Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) is a tool used to assess the risk of postpartum depression (PPD). In this study we determined the reliability and validity of the Malay version of EPDS when administered at two different time points in the postpartum period. Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional study design was carried out between May and September 2017 at three government primary healthcare clinics located in Batang Padang district, a suburban area of Perak state in Peninsular Malaysia. We recruited a total of 89 women; 41 women were in the early postpartum period (1-30 days) and 48 women were in the late postpartum period (31-120 days). Cronbach's alpha coefficient, inter-item correlation, and corrected item-total correlation were used to assess the internal consistency. The concurrent validity was assessed using Spearman’s correlation. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and R 3.4.2. Results:The Cronbach’s alpha for the first and second group was 0.78 and 0.62, respectively, which indicated satisfactory reliability. At both time periods, removing Item 2 from the scale resulted in a significant increase in Cronbach’s alpha (to 0.847 and 0.709, respectively). As expected, the EPDS scores correlated moderately with the BDI-II scores (1−30 days: Spearman's rho = 0.65, p< 0.01; 31−120 days: Spearman's rho = 0.73, p< 0.01). Conclusion:The Malay version of the EPDS is a reliable screening instrument for detecting postpartum depression. It showed reasonability and feasibility and can be used in postpartum clinical settings or for assessing intervention effects in research studies. Furthermore, as our results indicated, removing Item 2 from the Malay version would increase the internal consistency of the EPDS.
Bee pollen is considered as one of the functional foods due to its complex biochemical
properties. Bee pollen which is collected from pollen grains from various botanical sources
contains almost a complete nutrition such as carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, vitamins
and minerals. Its beneficial effect on health is thought to be due to the presence of phenolic
compounds with its antioxidant activity. Antioxidant activities of ethanolic bee pollen extract
(BPE) from three species of Malaysian stingless bee; Trigona thoracica, Trigona itama and
Trigona apicalis in this study were measured using DPPH-HPLC method and gallic acid (GA)
as a standard reference. The percentage of DPPH inhibition by T. apicalis BPE at 1 mg/mL
showed the highest inhibition (39%, GA equivalent to 0.3 mg/mL) compared with T. itama
(14.3%, GA equivalent to 0.1 mg/mL) and T. thoracica (6.7%, GA equivalent to 0.05 mg/mL).
Our result was the first in reporting antioxidant activity of BPE measured using DPPH-HPLC
method from three different species of Malaysian stingless bee.