Validation of a Romanian scale to detect antenatal depression

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a linguistically and culturally appropriate version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) for use with women attending antenatal care in Romania. We translated and tested a Romanian version of the EPDS (EPDS-R) in four hospitals in three Romanian cities: Cluj-Napoca, Satu Mare, and Sighetu-Marmatiei. The study population included third-trimester women attending antenatal clinics (n=418); 364 subjects were included in the analytic sample. We used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as a “gold standard”. We assessed reliability, validity, and conducted sensitivity analysis to establish an EPDS-R cutpoint. We found that reliability was robust (α=0.89) and there was a significant linear relationship between EPDS-R and CES-D scores (r=0.77; p 12 to balance sensitivity and specificity. Principal component analysis revealed a two-factor solution. We detected antenatal depressive symptoms prevalence rates of 32% (CES-D) and 38% (EPDS-R). This is the first study to report exclusively on antenatal depression and the use of the EPDS in Central and Eastern Europe. The EPDS-R is easy to administer, reliable, and valid for screening depression among antenatal women in Romania.