LENGTH OF HOSPITAL STAY AND THE TIMING OF ECT

The lengths of stay of patients receiving ECT and medication or medica tion alone on an acute elderly admission ward were retrospectively com pared. The lengths of stay for those who received ECT were significant ly longer than for those not receiving ECT. If the ECT was given withi n 4 weeks of admission, the length of stay was similar to those receiv ing medication alone. In addition to symptom complexes, the decision t o use ECT should take into account the length of the illness. Early EC T may reduce lengths of stay and decrease the likelihood of chronicity .