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Related Experiment Videos

Does the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale measure anxiety?

E P Brouwers1, A L van Baar, V J Pop

  • 1National Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), PO Box 1568, 3500 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands. e.brouwers@nivel.nl

Journal of Psychosomatic Research
|December 1, 2001
PubMed
Summary

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) has a confirmed anxiety subscale, but the total EPDS score better measures both anxiety and depression symptoms in pregnant women.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry
  • Psychological assessment
  • Perinatal mental health

Background:

  • The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is widely used for screening depression.
  • Previous research suggests a distinct anxiety dimension within the EPDS.
  • The concurrent validity of this anxiety subscale has not been previously assessed.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To confirm the existence of an anxiety subscale within the EPDS.
  • To evaluate if the EPDS anxiety subscale correlates more strongly with other anxiety measures than the total EPDS score.

Main Methods:

  • Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to validate the EPDS subscales.
  • 197 pregnant women completed the SCL-90-R, EPDS, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).
  • Correlations were calculated between EPDS subscales/total score and other anxiety measures.

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Main Results:

  • The analysis confirmed the existence of an anxiety subscale within the EPDS.
  • The EPDS anxiety subscale did not demonstrate higher correlations with other anxiety measures compared to the total EPDS score.

Conclusions:

  • The EPDS anxiety subscale is confirmed but not superior to the total score for measuring anxiety.
  • The total 10-item EPDS appears to be a more accurate measure of both anxiety and depressive symptoms.
  • Clinicians should be aware that the EPDS screens for both depression and anxiety, not exclusively depression.