Depressive Symptoms in Men Post-Miscarriage

Abstract

Background: Experiencing a miscarriage can be a traumatic life event for men whose partner has miscarried; for some it might even trigger depression. However, men have received much less attention than women in the literature. In fact, no review of the literature was found to focus on the prevalence of depressive symptoms in men post- miscarriage. Objective: This paper reviewed the literature on the prevalence of depressive symptoms in men post-miscarriage. Method: Using relevant keywords and inclusion/exclusion criteria (detailed in the method section), we retrieved published empirical studies on the prevalence of depressive symptoms in men post-miscarriage from MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases, as well as from the grey literature (between 1946 and Sept 3, 2014). Result: The 4 empirical studies retained for this literature review presented the prevalence of depression caseness and the mean or median (where applicable) depression scores. The prevalence of depression caseness, which was greatest within the first month post-miscarriage (5–17%), decreased until 6 months post-miscarriage (7% and 1–4% at 3 and 6 months post-miscarriage, respectively). A slight increase (2–8%) was noted from the 6-month postmiscarriage assessment to the 12- and 13-month post-miscarriage assessments. The mean/ median depression scores showed a similar decreasing pattern until 6 months post-miscarriage, but they seemed to remain stable from 6 months to 12 and 13 months post-miscarriage (see Table 1). Conclusion: This review was limited by the small amount of literature available. Although there was a decrease initially, depressive symptoms might not resolve easily in men postmiscarriage. However, it is challenging to understand whether depressive symptoms were truly related to miscarriage. The findings were discussed in their specific clinical and environmental contexts. In future studies, assessment of depressive symptoms with male-specific scales may yield a higher prevalence of depression in men post-miscarriage