Depression and anxiety in Singaporean high-risk pregnancies - prevalence and screening.

Data on psychiatric morbidity in high-risk pregnant Singaporean women are limited. This study aimed to establish the prevalence of antenatal depression and anxiety in high-risk pregnancies, compare the prevalence of antenatal depression in high-risk pregnancies vs. pregnancies of unspecified obstetric risk and examine the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) as screening tools for these disorders. Two hundred high-risk pregnant inpatients at a national public maternity hospital were included. Three psychometric assessment tools were used to evaluate all participants: the diagnostic Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the screening EPDS and STAI. Rates of major depression, minor depression, anxiety disorder (agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder), and comorbid depression and anxiety were 11%, 7%, 12.5% and 5%, respectively. Major depression was more prevalent in high-risk pregnancies than in the historical cohort of unspecified obstetric risk (11% versus 4.3%). EPDS (cutoff 8/9) screens well for depression and anxiety in high-risk pregnancies (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve=0.82-0.87). Antenatal depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in a sample of high-risk pregnant Singaporean women. EPDS performs well in screening for depression and anxiety in high-risk pregnant women, with further psychiatric assessment recommended for women with score ≥ 9. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Pavaani Thiagayson, Gita Krishnaswamy, May Li Lim, Sharon Cohan Sung, Charlotte Louise Haley, Daniel Shuen Sheng Fung, John Carson Allen, Helen Chen. Depression and anxiety in Singaporean high-risk pregnancies - prevalence and screening. General hospital psychiatry. 2013 Mar-Apr;35(2):112-6

Mesh Tags

PMID: 23265951

search → result