Eligible studies were prospective cohort, cross-sectional studies and randomised trials. Eligible trials had to use the index test as a method of recruitment. Eligible participants were women who were assessed for non-psychotic depressive disorder (postnatal depression) using of the two case finding question recommended by the NICE 2007 guidance (see Other Publications of Related Interest) within one year of a live birth.
The two case finding questions originated from the PRIME-MD study (see Other Publications of Related Interest); they were framed to recall symptoms of low, depressed mood and anhedonia over the previous month, and elicited a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. Included studies were required to apply one of the following 'gold standard' criteria to confirm diagnosis: DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders-IV); ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases-10); RDC (Research Diagnostic Criteria). Full details of the 'gold standard' diagnostic criteria were reported in an appendix.
The review included only one study of a cohort of women derived from an RCT to assess the impact of stepped-care treatment on postnatal depression. Women were recruited from four family medicine clinics in the USA. Women were required to be English literate, 12 years or older, have an infant aged zero to one month old, and be registered for postnatal well-child visits. Included women had a mean age of 29.3 years (±6.2) and 67% were white. The reference test was Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) in all cases.
The authors did not report how many reviewers assessed studies for inclusion.