The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale: validation on a Swedish community sample.
The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was designed to be used by community health workers to screen for postnatal depression. We report data from a population-based sample of 1655 women who completed the EPDS at 2 months and 3 months postpartum. A total of 128 women were interviewed with the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and assessed according to DSM-III-R criteria for major depression. A cut-off score of 11.5 on the EPDS identified all but two women with major depression, giving it a sensitivity of 96%, a specificity of 49% and a positive predictive value of 59%. This study supports the validity of the EPDS shown in earlier studies, and indicates that the scale is a useful screening instrument for identifying postnatal depression in primary health care in Sweden.
Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Sweden.
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Wickberg
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Hwang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology