Combined use of the postpartum depression screening scale (PDSS) and Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS) to identify antenatal depression among Chinese pregnant women with obstetric complications

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate antenatal depression screening employing two scales: the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) for the population of Chinese pregnant women with obstetric complications. A convenience sample of 842 Chinese pregnant women with complications participated in this study. The PDSS total score correlated strongly with the EPDS total score (r=0.652, p=0.000). Each tool performed extremely well for detecting major and major/minor depressions with PDSS resulting in a better psychometric performance than EPDS (p<0.01). If combined use, the recommended EPDS cut-off score was 8/9 for major depression, at which the sensitivity (71.6%) and specificity (87.6%) were the best, and the recommended PDSS cut-off score was 79/80 for major depression, along with its best sensitivity (86.4%) and specificity (100%). The study concluded that EPDS and PDSS appear to be reliable assessments for major and minor depression among the Chinese pregnant women with obstetric complications. Combined use of these tools should consider lower cutoff scores to reduce the misdiagnosis and improve the screening validity.