No, researchers haven’t started gazing into crystal balls. But they have developed ways to detect 80 percent of postpartum depression cases, according to a study published in Methods of Information in Medicine and reported by HealthDay News. More than one in 10 women suffer from this condition after giving birth.

Researchers at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain examined the medical records of 1,397 pregnant women who delivered in an 11-month span. The scientists evaluated risk factors linked to postnatal depression, such as previous family psychiatric problems, quantity of social support for the mother and the state of genes connected to the condition. They then used this information to develop models that predict the likelihood of depression.

“Early diagnosis of postnatal [or, postpartum] depression would make it possible to intervene to prevent it from developing among women at risk,” said Salvador Tortajada, lead author of the study.

The report also showed that being older and working while pregnant decreased the risk of postpartum depression.

“Now it needs clinical evaluation and for psychiatrists to start to test it directly on patients in order to study the true potential of these tools,” Tortajada said.

Read about depression in the African-American community here.