Parental depression following the early diagnosis of cystic fibrosis: a matched, prospective study.
OBJECTIVE
To assess risks for parental depression following the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) in a child.


METHODS
Matched cohort study in NW England; 45 parental couples with a child diagnosed with CF were compared with 45 control couples matching for age, sex, and position in the family of the index child. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) with a clinical cut-off > or = 13 for dysphoria (mild depression) was the main outcome. A stratified analysis was conducted using the Mantel-Haenszel risk-ratio estimator (RR(MH)) with eight strata for each of the matching variable combinations.


RESULTS
Heterogeneity was found within the dataset. Parents with a child with CF < or = 9 months of age at baseline had an elevated prospective risk of depression (mothers RR(MH) [95% confidence interval (CI)] = 2.6[1.05,6.42], fathers RR(MH) [95%CI] = 2.26 [0.97,5.28]). The absence of a group effect for depression at follow-up after adjusting for the matching (mothers RR(MH) [95%CI] = 1.1 [0.59,2.05], fathers RR(MH) [95%CI] = 1.42 [0.66,3.08]) masked this heterogeneity.


CONCLUSIONS
This hypothesis-generating finding suggests that parents may be more vulnerable to depression when their child is diagnosed with a life-shortening condition during the first few months of life. Mood in parents of infants diagnosed early needs to be monitored longitudinally and preventative strategies devised.
Glasscoe
Claire
C
University of Liverpool, Child Mental Health Unit, Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, UK. glassc@liv.ac.uk
Lancaster
Gillian A
GA
Smyth
Rosalind L
RL
Hill
Jonathan
J
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution