Clinical screening for affective symptoms in
pregnancy
Clinical screening for depression or anxiety in
prenatal and postpartum healthcare has been widely
recommended but is also potentially problematic.
The issues concern what screening tools to use; what
cutoffs to adopt for identifying women at risk; the
need for expert clinicians to follow up on those
women who score above thresholds to make
diagnoses; and, for those who have established
diagnoses, the availability of affordable and efficacious
treatments [50]. These issues must be resolved
for prenatal (and postpartum) clinical screening
to be recommended widely. For example, the
EPDS, which is a gold standard used widely in clinic
settings for depression screening both prepartum
and postpartum, actually measures both depressive
and anxiety symptoms, which may contribute to
confusion about risks [51]. In addition, experts have
questioned the validity of a diagnosis of depressive
disorders using standard diagnostic criteria for
mood disturbance because they include typical
somatic symptoms of pregnancy such as fatigue,
sleep disturbance, and appetite changes [52]. Also
relevant is one recent study reporting that women
with both depression and anxiety disorders were at
highest risk of LBW, as compared with those with
only depressive or anxious symptoms or none
[53]. Combinations of symptoms have received
very little research attention. Furthermore, little
research thus far has examined the feasibility and
utility of screening for prenatal stress or pregnancy
anxiety.
If broad screening for affective symptoms during
pregnancy results in high rates of false-positive
results, low rates of clinical follow-up and referral,
insufficient or ineffective education for women
about the meaning of screening results, lack of treatment,
and/or absence of proven evidence-based
interventions, then clinical screening as a standard
procedure in specific prenatal settings is of questionable
value. Nonetheless, if important preconditions
can be met, screening for pregnancy anxiety,
state anxiety, depressive symptoms, and stress in
pregnancy stands to provide potentially important
clinical benefits for mothers and their children
[54,55].