Screening for antenatal depression with the Edinburgh Depression Scale

Area of Science:

• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Psychiatry
• Mental Health Screening

Background:

• Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a significant concern during pregnancy.
• Accurate screening tools are crucial for timely intervention.
• The Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) is widely used but requires validation across pregnancy trimesters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the precision of the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) for screening major depressive disorder (MDD) in pregnant women.
• To evaluate the EDS's performance in the first, second, and third trimesters.
• To determine optimal cutoff scores for each trimester.

Main Methods:

• A random sample of 230 pregnant women was recruited.
• Participants were interviewed using the EDS and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID-NP) in each trimester.
• Test-retest reliability, AUC, sensitivity, specificity, and PPV were calculated.

Main Results:

• The EDS demonstrated good test-retest reliability (0.81).
• Optimal cutoff scores for MDD screening were 12+ in the first trimester (AUC 0.94) and 11+ in the second (AUC 0.96) and third (AUC 0.90) trimesters.
• High sensitivity and specificity were observed across trimesters.

Conclusions:

• The Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) is a reliable and valid instrument for repeated screening of depressive symptoms during pregnancy.
• The EDS effectively detects antenatal major depressive disorder (MDD) with trimester-specific optimal cutoff scores.
• The findings support the use of the EDS for routine antenatal mental health assessments.