Sleep quality and depressive symptoms in men during their partner's pregnancy: A cross-sectional observational study using actigraphy

Abstract

Objective: Changes in sleep are common among parents in the perinatal period. This study aimed to describe objective and subjective sleep quality in men during their partner's pregnancy and its association with depressive symptoms. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from a prospective observational study. Men in Japan with primiparous partners after 20 weeks of gestation were recruited. Objective and subjective sleep were measured using actigraphy and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively, and depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. This study was approved by the ethics committee of the principal investigator's institution. Results: A total of 15 men provided valid data for analysis. Actigraphy data showed that, on average, participants slept for 420.3 min per night, took 6.4 min to fall asleep, were awake for 11.3 min per night, and awoke 0.7 times during the night, with 97.4% sleep efficiency. There were no significant associations between sleep parameters and depressive symptoms, except for sleep latency (r = −0.59, p < .05). Conclusions: All participants had good sleep quality and few depressive symptoms, and there were no associations between overall sleep quality and depressive symptoms during pregnancy. This study provides baseline data for assessing changes in sleep after childbirth. Importantly, changes in sleep patterns after childbirth may stress fathers and lead to paternal depression. This illustrates the value of prenatal education, which covers postpartum sleep guidelines and information on infant care to help expectant fathers cope with sleep disruptions and adjust to fatherhood.