Previous studies have demonstrated that a maternal’s depression would increase the risk of premature birth and low-weight baby. Then what about the impact of prospective dads' mental state on fetus?
A baby whose gestation <37 weeks (259 days) is called a premature. A baby whose gestation <32 weeks (224 days) is an extremely preterm baby. Preterm birth is the main reason for infant mortality in high-income and middle-income countries. WHO (World Health Organization) said a surviving preterm fetus has a series of adverse consequences including learning disabilities and visual power issues. In addition, it is the main cause of global deaths of children under 5 years of age. Although previous studies have indicated that greater pressure of pregnant women is one factor of the risk for preterm birth, the results are not the same due to different sample sizes and pressure measurement methods.
To address the limitations of previous studies, professor Hjern and his colleagues chose people who have antidepressant prescription or outpatient / inpatient treatment in the study. The time of the research was from women diagnosed before long as 12 months to the second trimester of pregnancy. The researchers investigated more than 350,000 children who were born between 2007 and 2012, assessed the parents' depression and collecting phenomenon of extreme prematurity and mild preterm at the same time. The parents did not have depression within the 12 months were diagnosed as "emerging", and the other were "relapse".
The results showed that the risk of women giving birth to very preterm child increased by 30-40% under the new and recurrent depression; at the same time, the risk of very preterm children appeared to increase by 38% due to new depression of the fathers. Recurrent depression of father has nothing to do with the risk of preterm children. It is only the fathers' new onset depression that increased the risk of preterm children.
Professor Hjern believes that husbands suffering from depression may be one reason why pregnant women suffer from depression, thus increasing the risk of fetal preterm birth. The depression fathers suffer can not only affect sperms' quality, but also affect placental function. But the risk of patients with recurrent depression has lower risk, indicating that treatment of depression can reduce the risk of preterm birth fetus. According to the researchers, further research is still needed.
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