A comparison of the practice of Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) for psychiatry patients in department of psychiatry, Fatemeh Zahra hospital, Bushehr, Iran 2008-2009

Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) is one of the most effective treatments in psychiatry. The aim of this study is to survey the Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) practice in department of psychiatry، Bushehr Port University of Medical Sciences (BPUMS)، Bushehr، Iran in 2008 to 2010. In this retrograde study all the patients that had been admitted in department of psychiatry of Fatemeh Zahra Hospital during 2008 to 2010 and had received ECT، were included. The patients were studied to survey their clinical diagnosis and epidemiological data. Statistical analysis conducted using SPSS software version 12. Of 801 patient that were admitted، 254 (31. 7%) had received ECT. Clinical diagnoses of the patients received ECT according to their frequency included schizophrenia (33. 1%)، Bipolar Mood Disorder (BMD) (32. 6%)، Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (13. 7%)، schizoaffective (11. 4%)، drug abuse (4. 7%) and others. Male to female ratio of ECT receivers was 1. 5 to 1. The mean age of the subjects was 34. 5 year. The average number of ECT sessions for each patient was 7. 4. The rate of ECT practice among psychiatry inpatients in department of psychiatry of BPUMS is high comparing to other psychiatry centers. Patients with schizophrenia in contrast to MDD were the most common group that received ECT. The reason for our findings needs to be surveyed in other studies.