Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2024 Nov 20;24(1):832.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-06270-5.

Improvement of persistent impairments in executive functions and attention following electroconvulsive therapy in a case control longitudinal follow up study

Åsa Hammar #  1   2   3 , Eivind Haga Ronold #  4 , Malene Alden Spurkeland  1 , Rita Ueland  1 , Ute Kessler  5   6 , Ketil J Oedegaard  6 , Leif Oltedal  5   7
Affiliations
Observational Study

Improvement of persistent impairments in executive functions and attention following electroconvulsive therapy in a case control longitudinal follow up study

Åsa Hammar et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: How cognition is influenced by electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) and major depressive disorder (MDD) is still debated. The development and etiology of neurocognitive impairment in MDD were examined by investigating the cognitive profile following ECT related to the state, scar, and trait perspectives, with the former predicting improvements parallel with depressive symptoms, while the two latter expected persisting impairments. Executive functions (EF) and attention are central to cognition and alterations in these functions could influence other domains like memory. The main aims of the present study were to examine the short and long-term effects of ECT on EF and attention in patients with major depressive disorder by exploiting the rapid antidepressant effect of this treatment.

Methods: A case-control longitudinal follow-up design was used to investigate the effects of unilateral brief-pulse ECT on EF and attention in patients with depression (n = 36) compared to untreated healthy controls (n = 16). EF and attention were measured pre-treatment, approximately two weeks, and six months post-treatment.

Results: The patient group showed significantly worse performance on most tests compared to healthy controls pre-treatment, and no short- or long-term worsening of EF and attention following ECT was found. Significant improvement was identified in patients' attention, processing speed and inhibition after ECT.

Conclusions: The present study showed that there was no cognitive worsening after ECT treatment. An improvement in several of the tests measuring inhibition, attention, and processing speed was parallel to symptom reduction, with the former showing associations to symptom change, suggesting state-related effects from improved mood. Still, the patient group performed significantly worse on most measures both pre-treatment and at the short and long-term follow-ups, indicating prevailing trait or scar effects on cognitive functions and potential lack of practice effects.

Clinical trial number: NCT04348825 (14.04.20).

Keywords: Attention; ECT; Executive function; Iatrogenic effects; Longitudinal; Major depressive disorder; Processing speed; Short- long-term effects; Treatment-resistant depression.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Written and informed consent from participants was collected in advance of participation. All participants consented to participation in the study. The study was approved by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics, South East, ID: 2013/1032 ECT and neurology. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Scott KM, De Jonge P, Stein DJ, Kessler RC. redaktører. Mental disorders around the World: facts and figures from the World Mental Health Surveys [Internett]. 1. Utg. Cambridge University Press; 2018. [sitert 19. oktober 2024]. Tilgjengelig på. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781316336168/type/book.
    1. Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Taylor A, Kokaua J, Milne BJ, Polanczyk G. Mfl. How common are common mental disorders? Evidence that lifetime prevalence rates are doubled by prospective versus retrospective ascertainment. Psychol Med juni. 2010;40(6):899–909. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Otte C, Gold SM, Penninx BW, Pariante CM, Etkin A, Fava M. Mfl. Major depressive disorder. Nat Reviews Disease Primers 15 September. 2016;2(1):16065. - PubMed
    1. Lépine JP, Briley M. The increasing burden of depression. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2011;7(Suppl 1):3–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Miller S, Dell’Osso B, Ketter TA. The prevalence and burden of bipolar depression. J Affect Disord Desember. 2014;169(Suppl 1):S3–11. - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data

LinkOut - more resources