Socio-Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Patients Undergoing Electroconvulsive Therapy in a Foundation University Hospital Psychiatry Clinic

Despite all studies that support its effectiveness and reliability, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) use varies greatly both between countries and between clinics in the same countries. In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of ECT use, the diagnosis and socio-demographic characteristics of ECT patients, and the effect of ECT use on the clinic in patients receiving inpatient treatment at our psychiatry clinic. The study sample consist of 266 patients who received inpatient treatment at Maltepe University Medical Faculty Hospital Psychiatry Clinic, between January 1, 2017 and July 15, 2019. The data were obtained by scanning the patient files retrospectively. Between the specified dates, 61 (22.9%) of 266 patients who had been hospitalized in our clinic received ECT. 40 of these patients were female (65.6%) and 21 were male (34.4%). 25 of the patients undergoing ECT were diagnosed with depression (41.0%), 19 (31.1%) with psychotic disorder, and 17 (27.9%) with bipolar disorder. 28 (45.9%) of these patients were married, 21 (34.4%) were single, 12 (19.7%) were widowed / divorced, 13 (21.3%) were working, 38 (62.3%) 7 (11.5%) were retired and 3 (4.9%) were students. Patients who received ECT had a longer duration of hospitalization compared to patients without ECT (ECT (+) : 20 (10-33) day, ECT (-): 10 (154) day, p<0.001). ECT use rate was found to be 22.9% in approximately 1.5 years in the patients hospitalized in our clinic. It has been determined that ECT use rates are higher in female patients, patients with depression and non-working patients, and patients with ECT have longer hospital stay.