Panel Says Doctors should screen for Depression in Pregnant Women, New Mothers

Doctors should start screening all adults for depression, a government-backed task force recommended in its latest guidelines.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's (USPSTF) newest recommendations specifically point to two groups of women that can benefit from these screenings: pregnant women and new mothers. This is the first time that the task force has recommended depression screenings for mental health issues tied to maternity.

Karina Davidson, a member of the task force, stated that in 2009, when the last set of recommendations were issued, the panel of experts did not have enough evidence on whether or not pregnant women and new mothers could benefit from these screenings. The 2009 guidelines recommended screenings for all adults if doctors had access to a supportive staff that would be able to provide treatment.

"The task force has determined that there is enough good-quality evidence to be confident that the benefits of screening for depression outweigh the harms for the general adult population, including pregnant and postpartum women," Davidson said reported by Live Science. "This is because we found evidence that screening for depression in the primary care setting is accurate, that treatment for depression is effective for people detected through screening and the likelihood of harms from screening or treatments are small."

The task force also found that there was no harm in screening pregnant women and new mothers for depression. They explained that prior to finding evidence that these screenings could help, medical experts were concerned that labeling women with a mental health illness could cause more issues. Doctors had also expressed concerns about diagnosing people with depression when they do not have the staff to help treat the patient.

"A decade ago there was more concern that screening pregnant and postpartum women for mental health would do more harm than good," Wendy N. Davis, the executive director of Postpartum Support International, stated. "Medical providers would say to me, 'If I screen and she screens positively for depression and anxiety, I'm afraid that it will just make her feel more scared, or there's more stigma to that label.'"

Instead of being so focused on the stigma that surrounds mental health problems, Davis explained, "screening tools actually can give a language for both the providers and the patients to feel comfortable talking about it and prevent the stigma."

Based on new evidence that screenings help, the USPSTF has issued a "B grade recommendation," which means that depression screenings will have to be covered under the Affordable Care Act.

"It's very significant that the task force is now putting forth a recommendation that's specific to pregnant and postpartum women," said Katy Kozhimannil, an associate professor of public health at the University of Minnesota reported by the New York Times. "Policy makers will pay attention to it. Increased screening and detection of depression is an enormous public health need."

The recommendations were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.