Screening depressive patients in pregnancy with the pregnancy mood profile.

Depression and related psychopathologies have turned into a modern bubonic plague. World Health Organization figures signal a worldwide epidemic, affecting > or = 15% of the population and probably > 22% of women of childbearing age. Antepartum and postpartum depression are medical conditions that negatively affect mother and child and that need to be detected as early as possible to avoid or limit the use of pharmacologic treatments, with their possible side effects. The obstetrician should regularly test for depression with simple means from the very first moment of planning for a child and should use the test results for a pregnancy mood profile. This profile could assist in determining the risk of postpartum depression and serve as an early alert for postpartum suicide.