Prevalence and associated factors of EPDS-defined depressive symptoms in fathers of preterm infants admitted to the NICU: a cross-sectional study

The admission of a preterm infant to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) represents a stressful event for parents and families, often precipitating negative emotions such as anxiety and sadness, and in some cases, depressive symptoms. The impact of preterm infants’ admission to the NICU within 2–3 days after birth on maternal EPDS-defined depressive symptoms has been extensively studied, but research on EPDS-defined depressive symptoms arising from this context remains scarce. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of EPDS-defined depressive symptoms among fathers of preterm infants shortly after the infants’ admission to the NICU.

A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2024 and October 2025 using a convenience sampling method in a tertiary maternal and child health hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Gansu Province, China. A total of 379 fathers of preterm infants were recruited as study participants. The survey was conducted at 2–3 days after NICU admission. Data were collected using baseline demographic questionnaires, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Form (EPQ-RSC), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD).

In this study, we used the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) with a cutoff score of ≥ 10 to define screen-positive depressive symptoms. The prevalence of screen-positive depressive symptoms among fathers of preterm infants at 2–3 days after NICU admission was 29.55%. The associated factors included monthly income 5,000–10,000 CNY (OR = 0.557, 95%CI:0.312–0.995), paternity leave availability (OR = 0.532, 95%CI:0.291–0.974), infant birth weight 1,500-2,499 g (OR = 0.327, 95%CI:0.117–0.916), Psychoticism (OR = 1.913, 95%CI:1.592–2.299), Extraversion(OR = 0.846, 95%CI:0.739–0.968), Neuroticism (OR = 1.507, 95%CI:1.331–1.706), moderate family functioning (OR = 2.634, 95%CI: 1.356–5.117), poor family functioning (OR = 8.939, 95%CI:4.351–18.365).

Among fathers of preterm infants shortly after the infants’ admission to the NICU, EPDS-defined depressive symptoms were relatively common and were associated with several paternal, infant, and family-related variables. These findings warrant further exploration in multicenter longitudinal studies.