Only 20% of patients with PPD, anxiety symptoms receive diagnosis

Abstract

The probability of receiving a postpartum mood or anxiety disorder diagnosis is three times higher for White patients with symptoms than for Black patients with symptoms, according to a study published yesterday in Psychiatric Services, according to American Psychiatric Association Psychiatric News Alert. In addition, regardless of race, only 1 in 5 women received a diagnosis. “Despite their high prevalence and disease burden, [postpartum mood and anxiety disorders] often remain underdiagnosed,” wrote Stephanie V. Hall, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues. “Low diagnosis rates contribute to even lower treatment rates and exacerbate poor outcomes. Untreated [postpartum mood and anxiety disorders] are associated with worse maternal and infant health outcomes.” Hall and colleagues linked Medicaid claims data in Michigan with results from the Michigan Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, an ongoing representative survey of childbearing people conducted at two to six months after childbirth. All participants gave birth between 2012 and 2015 and were continuously enrolled in Medicaid from nine months before delivery through three months after delivery. Participants self‐reported their postpartum mood and anxiety disorder symptoms using an adapted version of the two‐item Patient Health Questionnaire. “Measuring the factors associated with underdiagnosis is a first step in improving [postpartum mood and anxiety disorder] detection and treatment,” the authors wrote. “Implementing culturally sensitive care, including strategies such as using nonstigmatizing language to describe mental health, ensuring that providers reflect patients' identities, and fostering patient‐provider relationships, may mitigate underdiagnosis.”