PhD Candidate, Faculty of Medicine Universitat de Barcelona. Spain.
Perinatal Mental Health Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Institute of Neuroscience, Hospital Clinic, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain; Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de Barcelona. Spain.
J Affect Disord. 2021 Mar 1;282:517-526. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.12.175. Epub 2020 Dec 31.
Although men have a higher risk of developing a mental disorder during the perinatal period, few studies have focused on new fathers' mental health screening. This study compares anxiety and depression symptoms between fathers with newborn infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and fathers of healthy full-term infants, assessing the impact of stress caused by the NICU..
A longitudinal and prospective study with control (n= 33) and study groups (n=51) was designed. The dependent variables assessed were post-natal depression and anxiety-state while the social and demographic information, health background and the parental stress in the neonatal unit were the independent variables. The fathers were assessed twice during the first month after birth.
Significant differences in the EPDS scores were found between both groups in the first assessment (p = .006) but not in the second assessment (p = .60). Significant differences in STAI scores were found between the groups for both assessments (p = .003 and p = .002). The stress caused by the infant's appearance and behavior was predictive of depression and anxiety in the study group.
The sample was collected at one hospital, immigrants were underrepresented, and no prenatal assessment of paternal mental health is available.
Our results suggest that the hospitalization of newborn infants increases the risk of developing anxiety or depression disorder in fathers. Health providers should be aware of the emotional changes in men shortly after childbirth and include them in the screening of and support for mental health disorders.
尽管男性在围产期发生精神障碍的风险更高，但很少有研究关注新父亲的精神健康筛查。本研究比较了新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）新生儿父亲和健康足月婴儿父亲的焦虑和抑郁症状，评估了 NICU 引起的压力对父亲的影响。
设计了一项具有对照（n=33）和研究组（n=51）的纵向前瞻性研究。评估的因变量为产后抑郁和焦虑状态，而社会人口统计学信息、健康背景和新生儿病房的父母压力则是自变量。在出生后第一个月，对父亲进行了两次评估。
两组在第一次评估时 EPDS 评分存在显著差异（p=0.006），但在第二次评估时无显著差异（p=0.60）。两组在两次评估时 STAI 评分均存在显著差异（p=0.003 和 p=0.002）。婴儿的外貌和行为引起的压力与研究组的抑郁和焦虑相关。
该样本仅在一家医院采集，移民代表性不足，且无法进行产前父亲心理健康评估。
我们的研究结果表明，新生儿住院会增加父亲患焦虑或抑郁障碍的风险。卫生保健提供者应注意产后男性的情绪变化，并将其纳入心理健康障碍的筛查和支持中。
