Validation of the Lithuanian version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale

Adomas Bunevičius^{1, 2}, Laima Kusminskas², Robertas Bunevičius²

¹Faculty of Medicine, ²Institute of Physiology and Rehabilitation, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Key words: postnatal depression; the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale; validity; sensitivity; area under the ROC curve.

Summary. Depression is prevalent postpartum and is a major health problem.

Objective. In this study, we aimed to evaluate how precise the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is in screening for depressive disorders postpartum.

Materials and methods. A random sample of 94 women was interviewed two weeks postpartum using the Composite International Diagnostics Interview Short-Form (CIDI-SF). In addition, they filled in the EPDS. We evaluated (a) internal consistency of the EPDS by the means of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient; (b) area under the ROC curve, sensitivity, specificity of the EPDS against the CIDI-SF diagnoses of depressive disorders.

Results. The internal consistency of the EPDS was 0.83. The optimal cutoff score of the EPDS for screening CIDI-SF diagnoses of depressive disorders was found to be 7 and more with an area under the ROC curve of 0.83, sensitivity of 92%, and specificity of 73%.

Conclusions. The EPDS has a good reliability as a screening instrument, and a cutoff score of 7 and more has to be used in screening for postpartum depressive disorders.

Correspondence to A. Bunevičius, Mokyklos 4, 53216 Garliava, Lithuania. E-mail: a.bunevicius@yahoo.com

Received 28 April 2008, accepted 7 July 2009