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Published on: April 11, 2019
Switching From Age-Based Stimulus Dosing to Dose Titration Protocols in Electroconvulsive Therapy: Empirical Evidence
Alex O'Neill-Kerr1, Anhar Yassin, Stephen Rogers
1From the Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, Northampton, United Kingdom.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to test the proposition that adoption of a dose titration protocol may be associated with better patient outcomes, at lower treatment dose, and with comparable cumulative dose to that in patients treated using an age-based stimulus dosing protocol.
Methods:
This was an analysis of data assembled from archived records and based on cohorts of patients treated respectively on an age-based stimulus dosing protocol and on a dose titration protocol in the National Health Service in England.
Results:
We demonstrated a significantly better response in the patient cohort treated with dose titration than with age-based stimulus dosing. Peak doses were less and the total cumulative dose was less in the dose titration group than in the age-based stimulus dosing group.
Conclusions:
Our findings are consistent with superior outcomes in patients treated using a dose titration protocol when compared with age-based stimulus dosing in a similar cohort of patients.
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