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The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is a common screening tool in perinatal care. Previous meta-analyses of this tool included postpartum women but did not include pregnant women. Accordingly, researchers in Canada sought to evaluate the adequacy of the EPDS to detect depression in pregnant women, as well as to define optimal cutoff values. Individual participant data encompassing 15,557 study participants, 2069 of whom had major depression, were included in this meta-analysis.
Combined sensitivity and specificity of the EPDS was maximized using a cutoff value of ≥11 (81% sensitivity, 88% specificity). Specificity was maximized at a cutoff value of ≥13 (95%), facilitating identification of women with higher symptom levels, but th…