Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Validation studies were eligible for inclusion.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies of the EPDS were eligible for inclusion. In the included studies, the cut-off value of the EPDS ranged from 8.5 to 12.5. Most of the studies applied the EPDS as part of a clinical interview; it was unclear how it was applied in those studies in which it was not part of a clinical interview.
Reference standard test against which the new test was compared
No inclusion criteria relating to the reference standard were specified. The reference standards used in the included studies were the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-III, DSM-III-R and DSM-IV criteria for depression, the Research Diagnostic Criteria, the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS-Depression), the Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, the Present State Examination (PSE-ID-Catego) and the OCD-10. Some studies used both major and minor depressive disorder in their definition of postpartum depression; others used a more strict definition that included only major depression, or major and moderate depression.
Participants included in the review
No inclusion criteria relating to the participants were specified. The time since delivery ranged from 4 days to 6 months.
Outcomes assessed in the review
No inclusion criteria relating to the outcomes were specified. The outcomes reported in the review were the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.