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Does catatonic schizophrenia improve faster with electroconvulsive therapy than other subtypes of schizophrenia?
Thirthalli, Jagadisha; Phutane, Vivek H; Muralidharan, Kesavan; Kumar, Channaveerachari Naveen; Munishwar, Bharat; Baspure, Prashant; Gangadhar, Bangalore N.
Affiliation
  • Thirthalli J; Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. jagatth@yahoo.com
World J Biol Psychiatry ; 10(4 Pt 3): 772-7, 2009.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-19225955
OBJECTIVE: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is generally recommended for treating catatonic schizophrenia. Non-catatonic schizophrenia patients also receive ECT. We compared the speed of response to ECT among patients with catatonic and other subtypes of schizophrenia. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Consecutive schizophrenia patients referred for ECT within 3 months of starting antipsychotic treatment were studied (19 with catatonic and 34 with non-catatonic schizophrenia). Nurse's Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE-30) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) were used to rate improvement. Referring psychiatrists stopped ECTs based on clinical impression of improvement. Total number of ECTs was taken as an indirect measure of speed of response. NOSIE-30 scores were compared using repeated measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: Catatonic schizophrenia patients required significantly fewer ECTs to achieve clinically significant improvement. There was a significant group x occasion effect in NOSIE scores, suggesting faster response to ECT in the catatonia group (F=41.6; P<0.001). Survival analysis suggested that patients with catatonic schizophrenia required significantly fewer ECTs (one less session on an average) to achieve clinical improvement (Log-rank statistic =5.31; P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Catatonic schizophrenia responds faster to ECT than non-catatonic schizophrenia. However, the magnitude of the difference is modest.
Subject(s)

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Schizophrenia, Catatonic / Electroconvulsive Therapy Type of study: Diagnostic_studies Limits: Adolescent / Adult / Female / Humans / Male Language: En Journal: World J Biol Psychiatry Journal subject: PSIQUIATRIA Year: 2009 Document type: Article Affiliation country: India Country of publication: United kingdom

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Schizophrenia, Catatonic / Electroconvulsive Therapy Type of study: Diagnostic_studies Limits: Adolescent / Adult / Female / Humans / Male Language: En Journal: World J Biol Psychiatry Journal subject: PSIQUIATRIA Year: 2009 Document type: Article Affiliation country: India Country of publication: United kingdom