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Published on: March 8, 2018
Electroconvulsive therapy for depression with comorbid borderline personality disorder or post-traumatic stress
Tyler S Kaster1, David S Goldbloom1, Zafiris J Daskalakis1
1Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention, Campbell Family Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Background:
The impact of comorbid borderline personality disorder (BPD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on clinical and cognitive outcomes of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in patients with major depressive episodes (MDE) is unknown.
Objective:
Compare clinical response and adverse cognitive effects for MDE patients with comorbid BPD or PTSD to MDE only.
Methods:
In a matched retrospective cohort study of 75 patients treated with ECT at an academic psychiatric hospital with DSM-IV MDE and either comorbid BPD, PTSD or both (MDE + BPD/PTSD), 75 MDE patients without BPD or PTSD (MDE-only) were matched. We reviewed clinical records to determine treatment response by estimating clinical global impression of improvement (c-CGI) and presence of adverse cognitive effects based on subjective distress or objective impairment. We explored factors associated with response and cognitive effects in the MDE + BPD/PTSD group.
Results:
There was no difference in c-CGI response rates between groups (p > 0.017). Secondary analysis of inpatients found lower response rates for MDE + BPD (55.4%) and MDE + BPD + PTSD (55.8%) than MDE-only (82.5%), but not MDE + PTSD (65.0%). There was no difference in adverse cognitive effects in the MDE + BPD/PTSD (23.3%-26.8%) group compared to MDE-only (25.0%). In the MDE + BPD/PTSD group, factors associated with higher response rate were: referral indications other than failed pharmacotherapy, greater number of ECT treatments, presence of adverse cognitive effects, and seizure duration >30 s.
Conclusions:
Despite a lower c-CGI response for inpatients with MDE + BPD, ECT is a viable treatment option for patients in the MDE + BPD/PTSD group with similar adverse cognitive effect profiles to MDE-only.
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