Department of Psychiatry,
Narcology and Medical Psychology, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and
Pharmacy, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, The 8th International Medical Congress for Students and Young Doctors, September 24-26, 2020Introduction. According to statistics, postpartum depression occurs in every 7th woman. This
is a current problem, which influences the mother-child relationship. Literary sources
recommends screening for postpartum depression at least once in the postpartum period.
Current screening tools for postpartum depression are: Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale
(EPDS), Postpartum Depressive Screening Scale (PDSS), Healthy Patient Scale (PQ-9). Using
all those screening tools makes the detection of postpartum depression (severity, clinical
manifestations and differential diagnosis) much easier and it also helps in receiving better
results of the psychological and medication therapy.
Aim of the study. The aim of the work is to study the assessment of specific symptoms in
postpartum depression and the screening tools, as well as its management. Materials and methods. During all the process were studied literature review (20 sources,
published mainly over the last 5 years), devoted to the symptoms of the postpartum depression,
its classification and screening in order to detect all the symptoms of depression and start the
treatment on time so as the psychotropic medications that are allowed during lactation.
Results. The results of the work includes all the issues of the screening for postpartum
depression, but, with a focus on the specific screening tools that are considered worldwide
indicators with a fairly hight sensitivity in determining this condition. According to the
literature for the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), sensitivity is 59-100% and
specificity is 49-100%, for the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS) sensitivity and
specificity are respectively: 91-94% and 72-98%, and for the Healthy Patient Scale (PQ-9),
sensitivity is 75% and specificity is 90%. We also studied the clinical picture of each state in
postpartum depression (ranging from milder conditions - baby blues to severe postpartum
depression with a psychotic component). Management algorithms were also examined for each
state of postpartum depression (psychotherapy and drug treatment, taking into account
medications that are allowed during lactation according to the recommendations of the FDA).
Conclusions. In this work are listed the screening tools for postpartum depression, the
examination of the clinical picture for each state of postpartum depression, and management
algorithms for postpartum depression. We gave a special attention to the management and all
possible issues of drug and non-drug treatment