What is the Best Screening Tool for Depression During Pregnancy?

About 10% to 15% of women working experience clinically substantial depressive signs or symptoms throughout being pregnant. Also, females with a heritage of major melancholy show up to be at significant risk for recurrent illness all through pregnancy particularly in the environment of antidepressant discontinuation.  We have extended argued that it is crucial to detect and to provide therapy to women of all ages who put up with from despair for the duration of pregnancy, but we have nevertheless to concur on what is the ideal instrument for this intent.

Utilizing the EPDS to Discover Melancholy Throughout Being pregnant?

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), although initially engineered to detect postpartum depression, has been utilized in expecting populations even so, there has been substantial variability in the estimates of the sensitivity and specificity of the EPDS in this environment.

Can Common Screening Tools Be Made use of in Expecting Girls?

Scientists have extensive been involved that the tools generally used to discover and evaluate depressive symptoms in the standard populace, these kinds of as the Hamilton Rating Scale for Melancholy (HAM-D) and the Beck Melancholy Inventory (BDI), contain various concerns about  physical signs, these as adjustments in urge for food and rest disturbance.  Whilst these indications are regular depressive signs or symptoms, they are also signs or symptoms of a ordinary being pregnant.

A examine carried out in Brazil girls implies that these screening tools work just as properly as the much more commonly utilized Edinburgh Postnatal Melancholy Scale (EPDS).  The researchers concluded that the scales examined can be considered as legitimate screening equipment for antenatal despair. All 3 screening resources experienced narrow confidence intervals and yielded positive predictive values greater than .75. Moreover, all scales had excellent interior regularity. In actuality, the BDI has much better psychometric properties (with the highest AUC benefit of .90) than the more broadly utilised EPDS.

Ruta Nonacs, MD PhD