[Prediction of effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy in major depression with routinely collected data]. / Voorspelling van de effectiviteit van elektroconvulsietherapie bij een depressieve stoornis met routinematig verzamelde data.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the possibility to predict response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in patients with major depression. AIM: To create an indexforthe prediction ofresponse to ECT in an individual patient. METHOD: Fifty-three depressive patients referred for ECT were included. Poor response was defined as a decrease in Hamilton Rating Depression Scale less than 50%. With multivariable analyses a simple index of independent predictors was constructed. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients (58%) showed poor response. The index comprised age < 65 years, psychotic depression, refractory to antidepressant medication, and personality disorder. It discriminated poor response patients reasonably well with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.76 (95% confidence interval 0.63-0.89). CONCLUSION: Response to ECT may be predicted using an index with four patient characteristics. Before implementation, however, validation of the index in future patients is mandatory.