EFFECT OF ECT ON MORTALITY AND CLINICAL OUTCOME IN GERIATRIC UNIPOLARDEPRESSION

Background: Recent reports have called into question the safety and ef fectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Method: To investigate these claims, the effects of ECT on clinical outcomes were examined a s part of a retrospective, naturalistic study of 192 geriatric patient s consecutively admitted between 1980 and 1987 to a large midwestern t ertiary care center for the treat ment of depression. Data were analyz ed by a variety of parametric and nonparametric methods including ANOV A and survival analysis. Results: Patients who received ECT (N = 108) were more likely to exhibit psychomotor retardation and to have had pr ior courses of ECT than those who did not receive ECT (N = 84), Furthe rmore, despite the absence of differences in the overall rate or sever ity 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 resul ts confirm previous studies demonstrating the superior efficacy of ECT as compared with conventional pharmacotherapy treatment in patients h ospitalized with depression and document its safety in long-term follo w-up.