Abstract
INTRODUCTION: One in five to seven birthing people are affected by perinatal mood disorders. While screening for gestational diabetes is well defined, the efficacy of standardized assessment of mood disorders is less understood. Between 2018 and 2020, screening at an academic center was highly variable, demonstrating need for improvement. Remote surveillance using novel integrated technology was used to improve patient participation in routine antenatal screening. METHODS: A prospective observational cohort of 81 patients from two clinical sites in the Babyscripts (BRx) Maternal Mental Health Module received digital Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) screening at 12 and 28 weeks of gestation. The control group consisted of 81 randomly selected patients who received in-person standardized screening from 2018 to 2020. In a midpoint analysis, EPDS completion was assessed at weeks 12 and 28 in the intervention group and compared to the control group using χ2 analysis. The study was reviewed and exempted by the George Washington University IRB. RESULTS: The BRx treatment group totaled 45 patients enrolled prior to week 14 and 74 patients enrolled prior to week 30. At week 14, 38% of BRx patients (17/45) had completed an EPDS survey, compared with 10% of patients in the control group (8/81). At week 30, 36% of BRx patients (27/74) had completed an EPDS survey, compared with 21% of control (17/81). Improved EPDS response rates of the BRx cohort were statistically significant at both assessments (P<.01 and P=.03). CONCLUSION: Remote mood screening resulted in significantly higher rates of adherence in the first and second trimesters as compared to standard methods. In the next phase of analysis, we plan to assess adherence of screening through 12 months postpartum. Future analysis is planned to determine noninferiority as compared to in-office methods among a larger cohort. We hypothesize that novel telehealth mood screenings will help to sustain engagement with providers and reduce time to intervention.
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