BACKGROUND Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common condition of the postpartum period that affects the mother's and child's well-being and functioning. A meta-analysis found a 13% incidence of postpartum depression during the first 12 weeks after birth. The patient's primary and continuing point of care is primary care. Despite the controversy surrounding screening and early detection in primary care settings, many PPD cases remain undetected. Due to the vagueness of this topic, screening tools must be able to detect situations. OBJECTIVE This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to identify the best postpartum depression screening tool for use in primary healthcare among women of reproductive age METHODS This protocol follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement. There will be access to the databases ClinicalTrials.gov., PubMed, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and EBSCO between January 2010 and September 2022, but only in English. Two reviewers will identify articles separately by reviewing article titles, abstracts, and full texts. Consensus will be used to settle any disagreements. Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) will be used to assess the quality and potential for bias. Methodically, data extraction and content analysis will be performed. Quantitative data will be visualized using a forest plot with 95% confidence intervals. The summary receiver operating characteristic curve will characterize the outcome of the diagnostic test. To evaluate the data, the Review Manager 5.3 (Rev Man 5.3) software package will be implemented. RESULTS The suggested systematic review and meta-analyses will enable us to identify the best postpartum depression screening instrument for primary care use. CONCLUSIONS Many PPD cases remain undetected despite the controversy surrounding screening and early identification in primary care settings. Given the ambiguity surrounding this issue, screening tools must be effective at identifying cases. Therefore, we proposed the study to determine the accuracy of various screening instruments used in primary care to identify postpartum depression. These results can help guide future research and clinical objectives to better detect and treat maternal depression. CLINICALTRIAL Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42020216067

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Background Postpartum depression (PPD) is a prevalent complication of pregnancy, this condition affects maternal and child well-being and functioning. Results from a meta-analysis showed an incidence of 13% PPD cases in the first 12 weeks after labor. Primary care is the first gate and continuing point of care for patients. Despite the controversy of screening and early identification in primary care settings, many PPD cases remain undetected. Given the uncertainty about this issue, screening instruments must be effective in identifying the cases. This systematic review and meta-analyses aim to identify the most suitable postpartum depression screening instrument for use in primary care. Methods PubMed, ScienceDirect, and ProQuest databases were used to search using relevant keywords or MeSH, with limitation of publication from January 1st, 2010 through December 31st, 2020. We will include screening studies on postpartum women using validated screening tools followed by validated structured or semi-structured interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as the reference standard in the primary care setting. Study designs included in the review are cross-sectional and randomized controlled trial without no screening arm on the diagnostic study. We will use a liberal accelerated method on the title and abstract review stage, then perform full-text article reviews on selected studies. Methodological quality will be assessed independently by two authors according to QUADAS-2 (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2). Extraction of the study data will be undertaken by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer. Disagreements will be resolved by consensus and including a third investigator as necessary. The test characteristics will be extracted into 2x2 tables for all included studies. Study-specific estimates of sensitivity and specificity with 95% confidence intervals will be displayed in forest plots. Discussion The proposed systematic review and meta-analyses will allow us to obtain the most suitable postpartum depression screening instrument for use in primary care. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42020216067