Included Studies
Of the initial 256 identified studies, most (n = 163) were excluded because they were not applicable to the present meta-analysis (eg, articles on other topics, depression not assessed in fathers, reviews or summaries, beyond postpartum period, infant death, teen parents). Of those that were reviewed in full text, 30 were excluded because the proportion of depressive cases was not reported, 16 reported on a sample already included in the present study, and 4 were not retrievable (Figure 1). After a thorough review, 43 studies met the inclusion criteria for this meta-analysis6- 8,13- 20,37- 68 (Table). Of these studies, 23 reported rates of paternal depression at 2 or more time points and 20 reported a single observation. Because the inclusion of multiple effect sizes from a single sample would compromise the independence assumption of meta-analysis,22 primary analyses used the earliest reported estimate, as this generally reflects a larger preattrition sample size.