Sensitivity and specificity of the three Whooley and Arroll questions for detecting perinatal depression in Mexican women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the Two Whooley questions and the Arroll question, using the SCID, The Structured Clinical Interview (SCID-I) as the gold standard for detecting perinatal depression.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We interviewed 210 women during pregnancy and 6 months postpartum.

RESULTS: The criterion with the greatest sensitivity was responding positively to either Whooley question (pregnancy= 94.7 %; postpartum=100.0%), while the most specific criterion was responding positively to the two Whooley questions plus the Arroll question (Pregnancy=90.0% Postpartum = 85.7%).

CONCLUSIONS: The Whooley and Arroll questions have adequate psychometric properties to detect possible cases of depression during the perinatal period. They can be applied during prenatal check-ups and postpartum consultations. Timely detection of women at risk of perinatal depression can contribute to their treatment for reducing their adverse consequences in mothers and infants.