The use of the edinburgh postpartum depression scale in a population of teenager pregnant women in Mexico: a validation study

• Published in: Clinical practice and epidemiology in mental health 2014, Vol.10 (1), p.129-132
• Main Authors: Alvarado-Esquivel, Cosme, Sifuentes-Alvarez, Antonio, Salas-Martinez, Carlos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1745-0179; 1745-0179
• DOI: 10.2174/1745017901410010129

:Depression may occur in teenager pregnant women. The use of a validated tool for screening depression is highly recommended. The Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS) is a screening tool for depression used in women during the postnatal period and pregnancy. However, the EPDS has not been validated in teenager pregnant women. Therefore, we sought to validate a Spanish translated Mexican version of the EPDS in a population of teenager pregnant women. One hundred and twenty teenager pregnant women attending routine prenatal consultations in a public hospital in Durango City, Mexico participated in the study. All participants submitted a revised Spanish translated Mexican version of the EPDS and were examined by a psychiatrist to evaluate the presence of depression by using DSM-IV criteria. Of the 120 teenager pregnant women studied, 2 had major depression and 25 had minor depression according to the DSM-IV criteria. The optimal EPDS cut-off for screening combined major and minor depression in teenager pregnant women was 8/9. At this threshold, we found a sensitivity of 70.4%, a specificity of 84.9%, a positive predictive value of 47.6%, a negative predictive value of 91.0%, and an area under the curve of 0.81 (95% confidence interval: 0.56-1.07). The EPDS can be used for screening depression in Mexican teenager pregnant women whenever a cut-off score of 8/9 is used.