Literature underlines that the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was the most common measure to assess pregnancy and postpartum depression worldwide and suggests that the rate of false positive cases is high. Furthermore, the EPDS measures, but not distinguish between depression and anxiety. The aim of this study was to value the ability of the Mood Spectrum Self Report Last Month (MOOD SR LM) to detect the rate of false positive obtained with EPDS

We recruited 81 pregnant women at the third month of pregnancy. 32 women were affected by Major Depression (MD) assessed by Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV Axis I Diagnosis and 49 women had EPDS score ≥ 13 but didn’t reach the diagnosis of MD by SCID I(False posivite group). Women were administered with the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised (PDPI-R), MOOD SR-LM, Work and Social Adjustment Scale(WSAS) at the third month of pregnancy.

The two groups wasn't different concerning the average scores using PDPI and EPDS. The WSAS average scores were higher in the depressed women group than in the false positive group. Tree factors of MOOD SR LR (“Depressive Mood”, “Psychomotor Retardation and “Drug/Illness related Depression”) had higher average scores in the depressed women group than in the false positive group.

To our results, MOOD SR LM seem to be able to decrease the false positive cases. Further studies concerning this use of MOOD SR LM are necessary.