ArticleEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists2024
Unmasking patient diversity: Exploring cognitive and antidepressive effects of electroconvulsive therapy.
Article in European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Epigenetic and blood markers associated with response to electroconvulsive therapy in patients with depressive disorders.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Maintenance of Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for Preventing Relapse in Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Diverging Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms During Electroconvulsive Therapy: Toward Personalized Treatment.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Electroconvulsive therapy and autobiographical memory.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2026Article
- Why is electroconvulsive therapy for depression more effective in older age? A causal mediation analysis.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Improvement of persistent impairments in executive functions and attention following electroconvulsive therapy in a case control longitudinal follow up study.BMC psychiatry · 2024Observational
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundElectroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an established treatment for depression, but more data on effectiveness and safety in clinical practice is needed. The aim of this register-based study was to investigate short-term effectiveness and cognitive safety after ECT, evaluated by clinicians and patients. Secondary, we investigated predictors for remission and cognitive decline.
methodsThe study included 392 patients from the Regional Register for Neurostimulation Treatment in Western Norway. Depressive symptoms and cognitive function were assessed with Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination (clinician-rated) and Beck Depression Inventory and Everyday Memory Questionnaire (patient-rated). Assessments were done prior to ECT-series and a mean of 1.7 days after (range 6 days before and 12 days after) end of ECT-series. Paired samples
resultsClinician- and patient-rated remission rates were 49.5 and 41.0%, respectively. There was a large reduction in depressive symptoms and a small improvement in cognition after ECT, but we also identified subgroups with non-response of ECT in combination with cognitive decline (4.6% clinician-rated, 15.7% patient-rated). Positive predictors for patient- and clinician-rated remission were increasing age, shorter duration of depressive episode, and psychotic features. Antipsychotic medication at the commencement of treatment and previous ECT-treatment gave higher odds of clinician-rated remission, whereas higher pretreatment subjective depression level was associated with lower odds for patient-rated remission. Clinician-rated cognitive decline was predicted by higher pretreatment MMSE scores, whereas psychotic features, increasing age, and greater pretreatment subjective memory concerns were associated with lower odds for patient-rated cognitive decline.
conclusionsOur study supports ECT as an effective and safe treatment, although subgroups have a less favorable outcome. ECT should be considered at an early stage for older patients suffering from depression with psychotic features. Providing comprehensive and balanced information from clinicians and patients perspectives on effects and side effects, may assist in a joint consent process.
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