BRISTOL, England, June 24 (UPI) -- Bristol and Oxford University researchers in England found postpartum depression affects a significant number of fathers.
The researchers, working with colleagues from the University of Rochester in New York, analyzed records on 8,430 fathers. Eight weeks following birth, 3.6 percent, or 303 fathers, appeared to be suffering from depression, with symptoms including anxiety, mood swings, irritability and feelings of hopelessness.
The study, published in the Lancet, also found baby boys whose fathers were depressed had twice as many behavioral and emotional problems in their pre-school years, the BBC reported.
"We already know that postnatal depression in mothers can affect the quality of maternal care, and is associated with disturbances in children's later social, behavioral, psychological and physical development," said Oxford psychiatrist Dr. Paul Ramchandani.
"While a significant number of men do report depression following the birth of a child," he said, "until now the influence of depression in fathers during the early years of a child's life has received scant attention."
