Postpartum depression screening by telephone: a good alternative for public health and research.
This study verified the reliability and validity of the Edinburg Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) administered by telephone interviews. In a cross-sectional study of a cohort from Brazil (BRISA), the EPDS was administered by telephone to 1,083 women within 12 months postpartum, and 257 (23.7 %) participants had an EPDS score ≥10. At 67 ± 48 days after their telephone interview, 199 (EPDS ≥10 = 96; EPDS <10 = 103) participants were interviewed face-to-face using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and completed the EPDS again by self-report. In 90 participants, the diagnosis of major depressive episode was confirmed by the SCID (EPDS ≥10 = 65; EPDS <10 = 25). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.861. The Spearman's correlation between the EPDS administered by telephone and the self-reported EPDS was 0.69 (p < 0.001). The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the EPDS administered by telephone was 0.78 (95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.72 to 0.84). Scores ≥10 showed a sensitivity of 72.2 %, a specificity of 71.6 %, and a positive predictive value of 67.7 %. The application of the EPDS by telephone is a suitable alternative for clinical practice and research and represents a method to optimize the diagnosis of postpartum depression.
Department of Neurosciences and Behavior, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Av. dos Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirao Preto, SP, 14048-900, Brazil, ffigueiredo@usp.br.
Felipe Pinheiro de
FP
Figueiredo
Ana Paula
AP
Parada
Viviane Cunha
VC
Cardoso
Rosângela Fernandes Lucena
RF
Batista
Antônio Augusto Moura da
AA
Silva
Marco Antônio
MA
Barbieri
Ricardo de Carvalho
Rde C
Cavalli
Heloisa
H
Bettiol
Cristina Marta
CM
Del-Ben
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013689:Telephone; D055815:Young Adult