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Updated: Feb 26, 2026

Pupillary Response as Assessment of Effective Seizure Induction by Electroconvulsive Therapy
Published on: April 11, 2019
Does Gender Influence Electroconvulsive Therapy Sessions Required across Psychiatric Diagnoses? A 5-Year Experience
Harshini Manohar1, Karthick Subramanian1, Vikas Menon1
1Department of Psychiatry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India.
Context:
There is a paucity of systematic data reflecting the practice of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) from developing countries.
Aim:
We aimed to identify the number of ECT sessions required to yield response and gender diffeferences in the number of sessions across various diagnostic categories.
Setting And Design:
A record-based study from a teaching cum tertiary care hospital in South India.
Subjects And Methods:
Case records of patients who received modified ECT from January 2011 to January 2016 were reviewed. The sociodemographic details and ECT-related data were collected. Psychiatric diagnoses were ascertained as per the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision criteria.
Statistical Analysis Used:
Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U-test.
Results:
Among 148 patients, 82 (55.4%) had mood disorder (bipolar disorder and recurrent depressive disorder), 43 (29.1%) had schizophrenia, and 22 (14.9%) had other acute and transient psychotic disorders (ATPDs). Patients with mood disorders, schizophrenia, and other ATPD received 7.3 (± 3.8), 9.7 (± 6.1), and 5.4 (± 2.0) ECT sessions, respectively, to achieve response. There was no gender difference in the number of sessions received.
Conclusion:
Our findings show that number of ECT sessions required to yield response may be disorder-specific. Gender does not influence the ECT dose requirement. Variations in ECT parameters across settings may limit the generalizability of results.
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