Indicators for electroconvulsive therapy among patients hospitalized for depression

This article compares various characteristics, including demographics, comorbid conditions, hospital status, and outcomes, in patients with major depression who received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) versus those who did not. It seeks to determine if dyslipidemia is an indicator for ECT among patients hospitalized for depression. Data from all patients admitted to US hospitals between 2009 and 2010 with a primary discharge diagnosis of depression were included. We compared patients with depression who received ECT with those who did not. A logistic regression analysis was used to identify the association between patient and hospital characteristics and odds of receiving ECT. All variables that were significant in the univariate analysis were added as predictor variables to the stepwise logistic regression model. A total of 925,060 patients with depression were included. Of these, 20,251 (2.2%) underwent ECT. In the stepwise logistic regression, female gender (odds ratio [OR] 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-1.5), white ethnicity (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-2.5), and dyslipidemia (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.6) were associated with receiving ECT among the patients with major depression. Large-sized hospitals (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-2.9) and teaching hospitals (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.1-4.8) were more likely to use ECT.