Prevalence of adverse events and related factors from electroconvulsive therapy among psychiatric inpatients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Charernboon Thammanard, Tangwongchai S, Karnjanathanalers N. Prevalence of adverse events and related factors from electroconvulsive therapy among psychiatric inpatients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.
Chula Med J 2008; 52:43-58

Methods Eighty five psychiatric inpatients who received electroconvulsive
therapy. The data were obtained by reviewing inpatient charts and
adverse event sheets.
Results The prevalence of all adverse events per patients was 85.9%. The most
common adverse event was memory compliant (69.9%). The other
adverse events were headache 40%, oral bleeding 12.9%, cardiovascular
adverse events 9.4%, dizziness 7.1%, nausea and vomiting 5.9%
and muscle soreness 3.5%.The prevalence of all adverse events per
ECT session was 37.9%.The most common adverse event was memory
compliant (25.4%). Other adverse events were headache 9.3%, oral
bleeding 2.5%, nausea and vomiting 2.3%, cardiovascular adverse
event 2%, confusion 1.4%, dizziness 1.8% and muscle soreness 0.5%.
Related factors for all adverse events per patients were total number
of ECTsessions and no prescription of Sodium valproate. The related
factor of memory compliant was diagnosis of schizophrenia. The related
factor for cardiovascular adverse event was diabetes mellitus.
The related factor for headache was no prescription of clonazepam.

Conclusions The adverse events from ECT of the study were commonly found.
The most common adverse event was memory compliant.
Keywords Electroconvulsive therapy: ECT, Adverse events, Psychiatric inpatient.