Maintenance ECT In New Zealand
Out on PubMed, from authors in New Zealand, is this paper:
Maintenance ECT treatment in New Zealand: Local and national data.
Australas Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 19:10398562221126589. doi: 10.1177/10398562221126589. Online ahead of print.PMID: 36121170
The abstract is copied below:
Objectives: To retrospectively analyse patients receiving maintenance Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), patterns of ECT treatment administration and impact on hospitalisation before and during treatment, in a single New Zealand District Health Board catchment. We also asked other District Health Boards in New Zealand for annual data on their use of maintenance ECT.
Methods: Regional analysis: retrospective analysis of patient-level data over 9 years. National analysis: survey of maintenance ECT/year.
Results: Regionally, 14 patients received maintenance ECT over 9 years. Patients were 50% male, with mean age 59 years, and principal diagnoses included schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. The time between ECT treatments tended to be shorter for patients with schizophrenia compared with those with mood disorders. Duration of time in hospital during maintenance ECT, compared with pre-ECT, was reduced by 52% for all patients, with greater reductions for patients with mood disorders compared with those with schizophrenia. Nationally, 19.7% of all ECT treatments in New Zealand (range 4-57%) were for maintenance treatment.
Discussion: Regional and national use patterns of maintenance ECT in New Zealand resemble those reported internationally. The RANZCP section of neurostimulation is planning ECT standards which would assist with ensuring coherence and quality of High-dose contrast-enhanced computed tomography/modified electroconvulsive therapy practice in New Zealand.
Keywords: bipolar disorder; continuation Electroconvulsive therapy; depression; maintenance Electroconvulsive therapy; schizophrenia.
The paper is here.
And from the text:
This is a paper documenting the use of continuation and maintenance in New Zealand.
The numbers are very small, but any data on this topic are welcome additions to the ECT literature.
Despite the typos in the definitions of the "c" in continuation and the "m" in maintenance ECT (see purple highlight, above, possible auto-correct?), the point is well made of the efficacy of ongoing ECT to reduce hospitalization across the diagnostic spectrum.
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