Increased Risk of Pain after Electroconvulsive Therapy among Depressed Patients: a Nationwide Study in Taiwan

Abstract

The risk of pain after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) among depressed patients is still controversial. We aimed to investigate the risk of pain post-ECT among patients with depression. We investigated patients with depression, based on the data in the National Health Insurance Research Database. A comparison cohort comprising depressed non-ECT patients with at least three psychiatric admissions were matched. A Cox proportional regression model was used to investigate the risk of pain between the ECT and comparison cohorts. The ECT and comparison cohorts consisted of 1246 and 4984 patients, respectively. Compared to the control group patients, the ECT group patients had a significantly increased risk of developing overall pain (aHR = 5.753; 95% CI: 2.405-11.760; P < 0.001). Specifically, the risk of developing headache (aHR = 7.270; 95% CI: 1.226-47.731; P = 0.026) and musculoskeletal pain (MSP; aHR = 5.330; 95% CI: 2.937-11.663; P = 0.001) was significantly higher than in the control group. The sensitivity analysis, which involved checking pain events for each week to the end of the study, also provided significant findings in overall pain (aHR = 13.013, 95% CI: 2.121-94.258, P < 0.001), headache (aHR = 10.995; 95% CI: 1.099-122.601; P = 0.042) and MSP (aHR = 14.210, 95% CI: 2.436-82.898, P = 0.003) within 3 weeks of follow-up. This study suggests that depressed patients who undergo ECT may have an increased risk of developing subsequent pain. Further research is warranted to elucidate whether pain is associated with ECT because several potential confounders existed.

Keywords: Depression; Electroconvulsive therapy; Headache; Musculoskeletal pain; Pain.