BACKGROUND: Recent reports have called into question the safety and effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). METHOD: To investigate these claims, the effects of ECT on clinical outcomes were examined as part of a retrospective, naturalistic study of 192 geriatric patients consecutively admitted between 1980 and 1987 to a large midwestern tertiary care center for the treatment of depression. Data were analyzed by a variety of parametric and nonparametric methods including ANOVA and survival analysis. RESULTS: Patients who received ECT (N = 108) were more likely to exhibit psychomotor retardation and to have had prior courses of ECT than those who did not receive ECT (N = 84). Furthermore, despite the absence of differences in the overall rate or severity of medical comorbidity, patients receiving ECT were more likely to be alive at follow-up and to demonstrate greater clinical improvement than those treated only with pharmacotherapy. CONCLUSION: These results confirm previous studies demonstrating the superior efficacy of ECT as compared with conventional pharmacotherapy treatment in patients hospitalized with depression and document its safety in long-term follow-up.
BACKGROUND: Recent reports have called into question the safety and effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). METHOD: To investigate these claims, the effects of ECT on clinical outcomes were examined as part of a retrospective, naturalistic study of 192 geriatric patients consecutively admitted between 1980 and 1987 to a large midwestern tertiary care center for the treatment of depression. Data were analyzed by a variety of parametric and nonparametric methods including ANOVA and survival analysis. RESULTS:Patients who received ECT (N = 108) were more likely to exhibit psychomotor retardation and to have had prior courses of ECT than those who did not receive ECT (N = 84). Furthermore, despite the absence of differences in the overall rate or severity of medical comorbidity, patients receiving ECT were more likely to be alive at follow-up and to demonstrate greater clinical improvement than those treated only with pharmacotherapy. CONCLUSION: These results confirm previous studies demonstrating the superior efficacy of ECT as compared with conventional pharmacotherapy treatment in patients hospitalized with depression and document its safety in long-term follow-up.
Authors: Kaitlin R McManus; Maria I Lapid; Brent P Forester; Martina Mueller; Adriana P Hermida; Louis Nykamp; David G Harper; Stephen J Seiner; Sohag Sanghani; Regan Patrick; Melanie T Gentry; Simon Kung; Janette C Leal; Emily K Johnson; Georgios Petrides Journal: J ECT Date: 2022-03-01 Impact factor: 3.692
Authors: Nagy A Youssef; Mark S George; William V McCall; Gregory L Sahlem; Baron Short; Suzanne Kerns; Andrew J Manett; James B Fox; Morgan Dancy; Daniel Cook; William Devries; Peter B Rosenquist; Harold A Sackeim Journal: J ECT Date: 2021-12-01 Impact factor: 3.692