First validation of a Spanish-translated version of the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS) for use in pregnant women. A Chilean study.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) to detect depression during pregnancy in Chile. The EPDS was applied to a sample of 111 pregnant women, who were attending an antenatal appointment in primary care centers. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-I) was used to assess the convergent validity, and the Depressive Episode module of the MINI was used to identify cases. The factor analysis showed that there was a good fit, with a factor model that explains 57.6 % of the total variance. There was a high degree of internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.914) and good convergent validity with the BDI-I (rho = 0.850, p < 0.001). The EPDS was capable of differentiating cases of depression from non-cases. The best cutoff point was between 12 and 13, corresponding to an overall accuracy of 87.4 %. The questionnaire has good psychometric properties and can be useful for detecting cases of depression during pregnancy.