Paternal Depression can lead to Depression among Offsprings?- Ft. Professor Rosa Alati

Can depression be passed on from father to child?

Existing evidence on paternal depression is ambiguous as to whether paternal depression poses a consequent risk of depression in offspring. The findings from a recent systematic review and meta-Analysis published in the journal JAMA Network Open drawing from 71,53,723 father-child dyads from 16 observational studies, reveals that paternal depression was associated with a 42% increased risk of depression in offspring.

The study talks about the importance of addressing maternal and paternal mental health issues using a family-focused approach to reduce the adverse effects on offspring mental health rather than the conventional gender-focused approach limited to maternal prenatal and postnatal mental health issues or individual treatment of the offspring

Depression knowing to be a mood disorder characterized by persistent feeling of sadness, loss of interest can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.

So to discuss this study in detail, the Medical Dialogues Team interviewed one of the co-authors of this study Professor Rosa Alati.

Professor Alati is currently the Head of the Curtin School of Population Health. She has a keen interest in promoting good mental health to the whole community supporting a number of programs and has an established track record in the epidemiology of substance use and mental health problems.

Reference: Berihun Dachew et al, Paternal Depression and Risk of Depression Among Offspring, JAMA Network Open. DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.29159.