Objective · To explore the clinical effectiveness and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in elderly patients with depression.
Methods · Searches were made in PubMed, EMBase, Web of Knowledge, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBMDisc databases and etc. CONSORT (Consolidated
Standards of Reporting Trials) statement were used to assess the methodological quality of the studies. RevMan and STATA were used to do meta analysis.Results · Ten studies were included in this systematic review. The studies which used Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD, n=5) and MontgomeryÅsberg depression rating scale (MADRS, n=3) to access depressed symptom were analyzed. Sample size was 306 and 290 before and after treatment, respectively. The depressive symptoms were significantly improved after ECT treatment estimated by either HAMD (Z=6.39, SMD=3.64, P=0.000) or MADRS (Z=15.47, SMD=2.12, P=0.000). There was no difference of Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) scores before and after the treatment
(Z=1.47, P=0.140). The incidence of adverse events of headache, confusion, drowsiness, nausea and vomiting was more than 5%. Conclusion · Depressed
symptoms are significantly improved in geriatric depression after ECT. The overall cognitive impairment is not obvious, but headache and disturbance of
consciousness are common.