Electroconvulsive Therapy for Agitation and Aggression in Dementia: A Systematic Review

Many patients with dementia develop agitation or aggression in the course of their disease. In some severe cases, behavioral, environmental, and pharmacological interventions are not sufficient to alleviate these potentially life-threatening symptoms. It has been suggested that in those cases, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) could be an option. This review summarizes the scientific literature on ECT for agitation and aggression in dementia.

We performed a systematic review in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. A search was conducted in Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Two reviewers extracted the following data from the retrieved articles: number of patients and their age, gender, diagnoses, types of problem behavior, treatments tried before ECT, specifications of the ECT treatment, use of rating scales, treatment results, follow-up data, and adverse effects.

The initial search yielded 264 articles, 17 of which fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these studies, one was a prospective cohort study, one was a case-control study, and the others were retrospective chart reviews, case series, or case reports. Clinically significant improvement was observed in the majority (88%) of the 122 patients described, often early in the treatment course. Adverse effects were most commonly mild, transient, or not reported.

The reviewed articles suggest that ECT could be an effective treatment for severe and treatment-refractory agitation and aggression in dementia, with few adverse consequences. Nevertheless, because of the substantial risk of selection bias, the designs of the studies reviewed, and their small number, further prospective studies are needed to substantiate these preliminary positive results.