The US Preventive Services Task Force has recommended that all pregnant women should be screened for depression and evaluated again after the child is born, nj reports.
The recommendation concluded early diagnosis and treatment are effective.
New Jersey was the first state in U.S. a decade ago to require postpartum depression screening for all women before they are discharged from the hospital and during follow-up visits with a pediatrician.
"New Jersey has been a real leader in this area already as one of the states that mandates screening for mothers already," said Ramon Solhkhah, the corporate medical director for Behavioral Health Services at Meridian Health, a hospital chain based in Monmouth County.
"The big problem has and will be what to do when you are screened? There is a real shortage of psychiatrists and mental health professionals," he said.
Depression occurs in one in eight of all pregnant and postpartum women.
According to the new recommendations, screening "should be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up," according to the task force consisting of a group of medical professionals appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The task force "does not consider the costs of providing a service in this assessment," according to the recommendation published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to NPR, legislation introduced in Congress last July authorized the federal government to fund screening and treatment for pregnant women or women who have given birth within the past year.
