Long-Term Effect of Maintenance Electroconvulsive Therapy in Patients With Depression-Data From a Small Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the long-term effects of maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (M-ECT) with medication and medication only in patients with depression.

METHODS: A randomized controlled trial of 1 year of M-ECT with medication or medication only investigated relapse/recurrence among 56 patients in remission after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for depression was conducted. The results of the first year are published already and showed a significant advantage of M-ECT with medication.The current study was a long-term follow-up. When the randomized treatment allocation ended, medication was continued in both groups but M-ECT was terminated. Patients were followed for up to 10 years via Swedish national registers until the study endpoint of a new psychiatric diagnosis as an inpatient, suicide, suspected suicide, or death of another cause. Time to relapse was compared between the M-ECT with medication group and the medication-only group using Kaplan-Meier estimates.

RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 6.5 years for the M-ECT and medication group and 3.1 years for the medication-only group. One year after randomization 22 patients remained in the M-ECT and medication group, and 14 patients remained in the medication-only group. Relapse patterns between the treatment groups after the completion of M-ECT seemed to be similar according to visual inspection.

CONCLUSIONS: This long-term follow-up study suggests that most of the benefit achieved during the treatment period with M-ECT is maintained over several years, but the small sample size, with accompanying large statistical imprecision, makes the results uncertain. More long-term studies of M-ECT are required.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00627887.