Cognitive status of psychiatric patients under maintenance electroconvulsive therapy: a one-year longitudinal study.

In recent years, maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (M-ECT) has been a common treatment within psychiatric practice. Little information is available regarding the cognitive risks of this treatment, however. In this study, twenty psychiatric outpatients were assessed during M-ECT and 1 year later on treatment. A comprehensive cognitive battery was administered, and a separate comparison group was used to calculate the Reliable Change Index. Global cognitive measures showed no significant difference in scores over time. Our results concur with those described in case reports and suggest that there is no significant association between cognitive decline and M-ECT.

[1]  I. Katz,et al.  Impact of Maintenance ECT on Concentration and Memory , 2001, The journal of ECT.

[2]  G. Cassano,et al.  Electroconvulsive therapy in medication-nonresponsive patients with mixed mania and bipolar depression. , 2001, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[3]  M. Thase,et al.  Continuation pharmacotherapy in the prevention of relapse following electroconvulsive therapy: a randomized controlled trial. , 2001, JAMA.

[4]  H. A. Fox.  Extended Continuation and Maintenance ECT for Long-Lasting Episodes of Major Depression , 2001, The journal of ECT.

[5]  P. Mitchell,et al.  Assessing the comparative effectiveness of antidepressant therapies: a prospective clinical practice study. , 2001, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[6]  I. Hickie,et al.  A prospective follow-up study of ECT outcome in older depressed patients. , 2000, Journal of affective disorders.

[7]  G. Maassen.  Principles of Defining Reliable Change Indices , 2000, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[8]  M. Thase,et al.  Acute efficacy of ECT in the treatment of major depression in the old-old. , 1999, The American journal of psychiatry.

[9]  H. Sackeim,et al.  Continuation ECT in treatment-resistant schizophrenia: a controlled study. , 1998, The journal of ECT.

[10]  J. Rosenbaum,et al.  Recurrent Depression, Resistant Clinician? , 1998, Harvard review of psychiatry.

[11]  L. Judd.  The clinical course of unipolar major depressive disorders. , 1997, Archives of general psychiatry.

[12]  Richard C. Barnes,et al.  Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy and cognitive function , 1997, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[13]  M. Thase,et al.  The National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association consensus statement on the undertreatment of depression. , 1997, JAMA.

[14]  P. Bech,et al.  Relapse prevention by means of paroxetine in ECT‐treated patients with major depression: a comparison with imipramine and placebo in medium‐term continuation therapy , 1996, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[15]  R. Jaffe,et al.  Ambulatory electroconvulsive therapy: report of a task force of the association for convulsive therapy. Association for Convulsive Therapy . , 1996, Convulsive therapy.

[16]  N. Squires,et al.  ECT and non-memory cognition: a review. , 1995, The British journal of clinical psychology.

[17]  G. Winokur,et al.  Effect of ECT on mortality and clinical outcome in geriatric unipolar depression. , 1995, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[18]  M. Fink,et al.  Continuation ECT: relapse prevention in affective disorders. , 1994, Convulsive therapy.

[19]  H. Lôo,et al.  Maintenance ECT in intractable manic-depressive disorders. , 1994, Convulsive therapy.

[20]  S. Folstein,et al.  "Mini-mental state". A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. , 1975, Journal of psychiatric research.

[21]  Arthur L. Benton,et al.  Word fluency and brain damage , 1967 .

[22]  P. Rubé,et al.  L’examen Clinique en Psychologie , 1959 .

[23]  J. Hudziak,et al.  Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy in schizophrenia. , 1994, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

[24]  J. Bennett,et al.  A study of the clinical efficacy of maintenance ECT. , 1990, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[25]  L. Grunhaus,et al.  Full and Abbreviated Courses of Maintenance Electroconvulsive Therapy. , 1990, Convulsive therapy.

[26]  R. Roemer,et al.  Outpatient Electroconvulsive Therapy: Efficacy and Safety. , 1990, Convulsive therapy.