Depressive Symptoms in Expecting Fathers: Is Paternal Perinatal Depression a Valid Concept? A Systematic Review of Evidence.

BACKGROUND

Since the identification of Couvade syndrome in the late 1950s, little attention has been dedicated to the issue of depression in expecting fathers.

OBJECTIVE

To quantify the extent of depression in expecting fathers and find out if they match their pregnant partners' depression.

METHODS

We conducted a PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov search using paternal depression and all its variants as terms. We used the referred eporting tems for ystematic Reviews and eta-nalyses () 2020 statement to include eligible studies.

RESULTS

We identified a grand total of 1443 articles, of which 204 were eligible. The total number of fathers/expecting fathers involved was 849,913. Longitudinal studies represented more than half of the included studies; more than three-quarters of the studies used the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The average occurrence of paternal depression was around 5%, which confers the entity some clinical dignity. Depression tends to occur more in expecting women and new mothers than in expecting partners or new fathers, while the co-occurrence in the same couple is quite low.

LIMITATIONS

The methodological heterogeneity of the included studies prevents us from meta-analyzing the obtained data. The validity of the instruments used is another issue.

CONCLUSIONS

Paternal depression is distinct from maternal depression and occurs at lower rates (about half). The very existence of a paternal depression clinical entity is beyond any doubt. Future research should address methodological heterogeneity.