MedicalNewsToday.com
Originally published January 12, 2013
Here are some excerpts:
A new study in Biological Psychiatry suggests that reductions in ECT treatment have an economic basis. From 1993 - 2009, there was a progressive decline in the number of hospitals offering ECT treatment, resulting in an approximately 43% drop in the number of psychiatric inpatients receiving ECT.
Using diagnostic and discharge codes from survey data compiled annually from US hospitals, researchers calculated the annual number of inpatient stays involving ECT and the annual number of hospitals performing the procedure.
Lead author Dr. Brady Case, from Bradley Hospital and Brown University, said, "Our findings document a clear decline in the capacity of US general hospitals - which provide the majority of inpatient mental health care in this country - to deliver an important treatment for some of their most seriously ill patients. Most Americans admitted to general hospitals for severe recurrent major depression are now being treated in facilities which do not conduct ECT."
This is the consequence of an approximately 15 year trend in which psychiatric units appear to be discontinuing use of the procedure. The percentage of hospitals with psychiatric units which conduct ECT dropped from about 55% in 1993 to 35% in 2009, which has led to large reductions in the number of inpatients receiving ECT.
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