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Relapse after successful electroconvulsive therapy: The use and impact of continuation antidepressant drug treatment
Author(s) -
Riddle William J. R.,
Scott Allan I. F.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.470100306
Subject(s) - electroconvulsive therapy , antidepressant , medicine , drug , confidence interval , continuation , pharmacotherapy , psychiatry , anesthesia , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , anxiety , computer science , programming language
Thirty eight (76 per cent) of a series of 50 depressed patients routinely referred for bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) improved markedly by two weeks after the last ECT. Patients remained under the care of their responsible clinicians after ECT. Only one‐third of the patients who improved markedly were prescribed continuation antiddepressant drug treatment for at least four months after ECT. Seventeen (46 per cent) of the patients who improved relapsed within six months of the last ECT. Patients who did not receive continuation antidepressant drug treatment were four times more likely to relapse (the 95 per cent confidence interval of the excess relapse rate was 24 to 78 percent).