Comparison of clinical characteristics of patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy as inpatients and outpatients

Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is one of the efficient and reliable somatic treatments used in severe mental disorders. In our country ECT procedures are generally performed on hospitalized patients. The use of ECT in acute outpatients gradually increases as an acute and maintenance treatment. Studies that compare acute outpatient ECT and ECT applied after hospitalization are limited. The present study reviews clinical characteristics of acute outpatient ECT and inpatient ECT comprehensively and retrospectively.

Methods: Patients (n=904) who were admitted to the Psychiatry Clinic of Dicle University, Faculty of Medicine between 2011 and 2014 and received ECT (n=138) as well as outpatients who had ECT (N=138) in acute attacks were included into the study. The files of these patients were reviewed retrospectively.

Results: ECT application ratio in patients admitted into our clinic was found 15.3%. ECT was mostly applied to patients with depression. There was no difference detected between age, number of ECT sessions applied, diagnosis and gender of admitted patients and outpatients (p>0.05).

Conclusion: In our study, clinical characteristics of patients who received ECT after admission or as outpatients were detected to be similar. We believe that a cost-efficient treatment method may be presented to the patients by including acute outpatient ECT more in the treatment plan of the physicians.