Postpartum Psychiatric Disorders — in Men, Too?

During the postpartum period, women, especially primiparous women, are at increased risk for depression and psychosis. Few researchers, however, have studied psychiatric disorders in fathers during the postpartum period. Now, researchers have used Danish registries to examine rates of first psychiatric hospitalization or outpatient contact in 630,373 women and 547,431 men during their first year of parenthood.

Within 12 months after childbirth, 1171 women and 658 men had their first psychiatric hospitalization (prevalence of hospital admission during the first 3 months, 1.03 per 1000 women; 0.37 per 1000 men). Women were at highest risk for hospitalization or outpatient contact at 10 to 19 days postpartum; their relative risks were 7.31 and …