ONE-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF CONTINUATION CONVULSIVE THERAPY PRESCRIBED FOR DEPRESSED ELDERLY PATIENTS

Nine elderly patients with major depression were followed for outcome of continuation ECT. All nine patients had poor response to pharmacoth erapy of the index episode, favorable response to acute treatment with ECT and, to varying degrees, previous failure of prophylactic pharmac otherapy. Four of the nine patients complied with continuation ECT as recommended for periods of 9 months to 1 year; these patients remained essentially well during the follow-up period, while the five who stop ped the treatment prematurely fared poorly (one died, one required chr onic hospitalization and three were rehospitalized acutely). These fin dings suggest the need for controlled studies of continuation ECT in g eriatric depression.