HealthDay reports that new research published online in Pediatrics finds that the cutoff scores of postpartum depression screening tools "may need to be changed to more accurately identify depression depending on the population and the screening tool used." The study focused primarily on low-income urban mothers.
"Depression is highly prevalent among low-income, black, postpartum mothers and can be identified accurately through screening with the EPDS, PDSS, or BDI-II. Depending on the population and the screening tool, practitioners may need to alter the cutoff score to identify more effectively individuals who could benefit from referral and treatment," the authors conclude.
