Longitudinal study of depression, anxiety, and health-related quality of life in women and men from early pregnancy to 1-year postpartum: Is there a difference between first- and second-time parents?

Background:

As having another child may be considered an environmental stressor, an increased risk of depression among second-time mothers was observed. However, parity effects on men were not well studied, despite increasing attention on men’s perinatal role. Few involved further exploring perceived health-related quality of life during perinatal periods. Our study was thus aimed to investigate the change of depression, anxiety, and quality of life among first- and second-time parents from early pregnancy to 1-year postpartum.

Methods:

A total of 520 pregnant women and their partners were recruited for participation during their first trimester prenatal visits (baseline) in Taiwan from 2011-2014. They were followed five times from pregnancy to 1-year postpartum. Self-reported data were collected for both parents, using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life. Generalized estimating equations models were used for analysis.

Results:

Although women consistently displayed higher depression/anxiety values and worse quality of life than men, patterns differed. The highest depression was observed in one-month postpartum for mothers, while for father, the peak was presented in the second trimester. Compared to first-time fathers, multiparous men was independently associated with a 1.77- (95%CI=1.39-2.27) and 1.20- fold (95%CI=1.00-1.42) increased risks of having higher depression and worse quality of life, respectively. However, no significant difference was observed for mothers carrying their first or second child.

Conclusions                       

Parity may have various meanings and impact on mothers and fathers and should be considered separately. Our study also highlights the importance of considering timing in intervening perinatal mental health.