Overview
- The JAMA Network Open study, published Monday, tracked new psychiatric diagnoses for more than one million Swedish fathers from a year before pregnancy to a year after birth.
- Diagnoses fell during pregnancy and in the first months after delivery, but depression and stress-related disorders rose by over 30% around the child’s first birthday.
- Anxiety and alcohol- or drug-related diagnoses returned to pre-pregnancy levels by one year, pointing to a delayed spike that was specific to depression and stress conditions.
- Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Sichuan University said the late rise was unexpected and urged longer-term mental health checks and support for fathers.
- The team noted the registers capture only clinical diagnoses, and U.S. clinicians covering the findings said fathers are rarely screened, which suggests many cases may go unnoticed.