“This is a recommendation to screen all adults in the primary care setting, including pregnant and postpartum women”, said Bibbins-Domingo, who is also affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. In particular, women, younger and middle-aged adults, and nonwhite individuals have relatively higher rates of depression, as do people who are undereducated, previously married or unemployed.
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The draft recommendation lists a number of commonly used screening instruments, such as the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Geriatric Depression Scale for older adults and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale for pregnant and postpartum women. This new recommendation is classified as grade B, indicating there is “at least moderate certainty the benefit will be moderate to substantial”.
With this engagement, the Simply.S. Preventive Services Task Force expands its 2009 reference which typically mature individuals be tried in doctors’ places of work if staff-assisted melancholy care can be obtained.
The US Preventive Services Task Force is urging primary care providers to regularly screen for depression in all adult patients in an updated draft B recommendation.
ACOG president, Mark S. DeFrancesco, MD, emphasized the serious nature of untreated perinatal depression in his statement, saying that suicide is a more common cause of maternal mortality than hemorrhage or hypertensive disorders. Given that depression care support is now more widely available and accepted, the recommendation regarding selective screening has been removed from the current statement.
Public comment on the draft may be submitted through August 24, 2015.
“Screening for and identifying depression is an important part of wellness and health”, says Linda Baumann, Ph.D., R.N., A.P.R.N., a member of the Task Force.
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Overall, research regarding the benefits of screening was convincing, said the USPSTF, comprising numerous good- and fair-quality studies among each of the various subpopulations considered. Clinicians should understand the evidence but individualize decision making to the specific patient or situation.
