title: Assessment of postpartum depressive symptoms: the importance of somatic symptoms and irritability.
abstract: Assessing postpartum depressive symptoms is complicated by the fact that irritability, fatigue, insomnia, and appetite disruptions are also related to normative aspects of the childbearing process. We used multigroup confirmatory factor analysis to compare symptoms in 271 postpartum women with those of 820 non-postpartum women. We found that (a) irritability, insomnia, fatigue, and appetite loss were substantially associated with depressed mood among postpartum women whereas increased appetite was not; (b) irritability, insomnia, fatigue, and appetite changes were as strongly related to depression among postpartum women as they were among non-postpartum women; and (c) after controlling for overall depressed mood, postpartum women reported more irritability, insomnia, and appetite loss than the non-postpartum women. Irritability, fatigue, insomnia, and appetite loss are valid indicators and should be used to measure postpartum depressive symptoms. However, scores on these symptoms should be adjusted downward to account for their higher baseline rates in the postpartum population.
authors: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA j-williamson@uiowa.edu.
authors: J Austin
authors: JA
authors: Williamson
authors: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors: Michael W
authors: MW
authors: O'Hara
authors: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors: Scott
authors: S
authors: Stuart
authors: University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, IL, USA.
authors: Kimberly J
authors: KJ
authors: Hart
authors: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Watson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007508:Irritable Mood; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: appetite; fatigue; irritability; postpartum depression; screening; sleep