Rate of depression during pregnancy

A maternity corridor: ten women walking in already carry it, and at the postnatal door a strict gatekeeper and a loose screener count the same room differently. 1. Ten women in the corridor already carry it before birth — antenatal depression affects approximately 10% of pregnant women. 2. At the postnatal door, the strict gatekeeper (full diagnostic criteria) signs off only five — postnatal point prevalenceThe proportion of a population who have a condition at a given point or period in time.Read more → is 5% in the first 3 months after delivery. 3. The loose screener at the same door, who also counts the mild ones, waves through nineteen — postnatal point prevalence rises to 19% once minor depression is included. 4. Checking paperwork, one in every three of the postnatal signees has a note dated from before birth — about a third of cases labelled 'postnatal depression' actually began during pregnancy.