Comparative outcomes in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): A naturalistic comparison between outcomes in psychosis, mania, depression, psychotic depression and catatonia

Abstract

Electroconvulsive Therapy's (ECT) use and place in treatment guidelines varies worldwide with a primary indication of depression in Western countries and acute psychosis in Asian countries. There is sparse evidence about the relative effectiveness of ECT among different indications that may account for this discrepancy. We aimed to compare the clinical global impression of disease severity, cognitive change, subjective quality of life (QoL) and global functioning after ECT given for treatment of the indications of acute psychosis, mania, depression, psychotic depression and catatonia. We conducted a retrospective naturalistic cohort study with post-hoc analyses of patients’ ECT registry data from 2017 to 2019. 691 patients were assessed before and after 6 sessions of ECT treatment, using the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement and Severity (CGI-I and CGI-S) scale, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form (Q-LES-Q-SF), EQ-5D utility score and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. The pre-ECT vs post-ECT clinical assessment change scores were compared within and across the five indications. For each indication, there were large improvements in clinical global impression of disease severity, QoL and global functioning. There were no significant changes in MoCA score for most indications except for an improvement in patients with schizophrenia. ECT is a rapidly acting and effective acute treatment across several severe mental illnesses with large improvements in symptoms, QoL and global functioning.