Screening for postpartum depression in a private health care network in Chile.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It has been demonstrated that postpartum depression (PPD) has an impact on infant development with repercussions in the child's cognitive, socioemotional and conduct regulation. Screening for this disorder with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) has been recommended because this significantly identifies more cases of PPD than usual clinical evaluation. AIM: To evaluate the use of the EPDS to screen mothers attending well child care visits with their infants during the first 6 months of age and identifying the factors associated with its use in the largest private health care network in Chile. METHODS: Cross-sectional study, conducted by random sampling of the children's medical charts from a universe of 5700 infants aged 1-6 months that attended the health care network during 2009 and 2011. Estimated sample size: 500 medical charts, assuming a recording frequency of the EPDS of 5% (confidence level of 95% and power of 80%). The descriptive data analysis of the variables was carried out using a uni and multivariate analysis. All values of P < 0.05 were considered significant (Software SPSS 17.0). RESULTS: A total of 1940 visits, belonging to 503 medical charts of infants under 6 months of age were reviewed. The use of the EPDS to screen mothers was recorded in nine medical charts (1.7% of the infant population). The only variable that was significantly associated with the recording of the EPDS was the background of previous depression in the mother (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The record of the use of EPDS on mothers of infants seen in the private health care network is much less than what is recommended.