A key for perinatal depression early diagnosis: The body dissatisfaction

Abstract Objective To test if the evaluation of body dissatisfaction by images could be an interesting tool to detect perinatal depression early in pregnancy, questioning patients about their body image instead of their depressive symptoms. Methods A sample of 457 women was recruited in a longitudinal study. Three evaluations were performed at the 4th and 8th months of pregnancy and during post-partum. During these evaluations, sociodemographic data were collected and psychiatric scales were completed, including Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Pictorial Body Image Scale (PBIS) and Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). Results 33% of the women who were unsatisfied with their body image suffered from perinatal depression vs. 11.3% of the women who were not ( p p p Conclusion The administration of a simple scale (PBIS) during an early visit during pregnancy allows detecting perinatal depression. This should prevent the stigmatization of women during pregnancy and reduce the risk of not diagnosing depression during pregnancy and post-partum.