title: Alexithymia and postpartum anxiety and depression symptoms: a follow-up study in a pregnancy cohort.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a lack of longitudinal studies assessing the significance of alexithymia on the emergence of mental illnesses. We aimed to evaluate the potential effect of alexithymia on postpartum anxiety and depression symptoms in a sample of parents to be.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a pregnancy cohort, longitudinal data were available from three time points (gestational weeks 18-20, and 3 and 12 months postpartum) for 100 mothers and 65 fathers. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to assess alexithymia, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to evaluate anxiety symptoms and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) to assess depression. Linear regression analyses were used to estimate the effect of alexithymia on the symptom scale score changes from baseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both in mothers and fathers, the TAS-20 total score was significantly correlated with the STAI and EPDS scores at several time-points, with a higher TAS-20 score indicating more symptoms. In the regression analyses, the association of alexithymia with later symptoms became non-significant in mothers. However, in fathers, the TAS-20 score had a statistically significant effect on the increase of the STAI score at 3 months postpartum (p = 0.006). For the separate TAS-20 subscales, difficulty identifying feelings had a significant effect on the increase of anxiety by 12 months postpartum (p = 0.023) and difficulty describing feelings on the increase by 3 months postpartum (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the setting did not facilitate the assessment of actual diagnoses regarding the anxiety and depression symptoms, alexithymia appears to have a significant effect on the increase of postpartum anxiety symptoms in fathers-to-be.
authors.affiliation: a Psychiatric Care Division, Satakunta Hospital District , Harjavalta , Finland .|b Department of Psychiatry , FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study .
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karukivi
authors.affiliation: c FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Institute of Clinical Medicine , and .|d Department of Community Dentistry , Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku , Turku , Finland .
authors.forename: Mimmi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tolvanen
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study .|e Department of Psychiatry and .
authors.forename: Hasse
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.affiliation: f Department of Child Psychiatry Turku University Hospital , Turku , Finland , and.|g Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services , National Institute for Health and Welfare , Helsinki , Finland.
authors.forename: Linnea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Karlsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D003710:Demography; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010555:Personality Inventory; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: Alexithymia; anxiety; depression; pregnancy; prospective