Can depression during pregnancy be identified?

I often pop over to the blog, Postpartum Progress, where you can find some very interesting information about postpartum depression, or PPD. July 2nd’s post was particularly interesting for me because it involved a study about how – or if – depression can be measured in women who are still pregnant.

First, I’ll let you read the abstract from SpringerLink:

“Depression in pregnancy can be underdiagnosed as a consequence of the symptoms being misattributed to “normal pregnancy.” There are currently no validated clinician-rated scales that assess for depression specifically during pregnancy. We sought to develop a brief, convenient screening tool to identify depression in pregnant women in the community setting. Prospective mood data using the 28-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) were collected monthly in 196 pregnant women with a history of a major depressive disorder. These data were analyzed to delineate those HDRS items associated (elevated) with normal pregnancy vs. those indicative of a pregnant woman meeting diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode. Endorsement of symptoms on seven items of the HDRS were highly predictive of having a major depressive episode during pregnancy. We present a well-validated, brief scale to screen pregnant women for clinical depression. Whether this study will generalize to women who do not have a history of major depression remains to be studied.”

Ok, so here’s what the abstract is saying:

Click here to read more.

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