Improvements in quality of life after electroconvulsive therapy for major depression continue for at least six months, according to an article in the February issue of Journal of Affective Disorders.

The study was conducted in seven hospitals in New York City - two private psychiatric hospitals, three community hospitals and two academic medical centers, said W. Vaughn McCall, MD, MS, the lead author and professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

“This study adds to the accumulating evidence that electroconvulsive therapy is associated with a net health benefit in depressed patients who attain and sustain remission,” wrote McCall and colleagues.

The results from 283 severely depressed patients at the seven New York City hospitals confirm results from an earlier study McCall did of 77 patients at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, a study that was published in the November 2004 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

In that study, he said, “Quality of life and function are improved in electroconvulsive therapy patients as early as two weeks after the conclusion of therapy.”

In the new study, the psychiatrists said, “Electroconvulsive therapy is associated with improved health-related quality of life in the short term and the long term.” Most of the improvements were largely explained by control of depressive symptoms, McCall said.

The team measured quality of life with a tool called Medical Outcomes Study Short Form before therapy, several days after therapy, and again 24 weeks later. Before treatment, the authors said, health-related quality of life was very low: for example a measure called “vitality” was 20.4, “social functioning” was 22.8, and “emotional” was 6.4. Six months later, vitality was 40.1, social functioning was 55.2, and emotional was 42.8.

“All these scales have a range of scores from 0 to 100 with 100 being fully functional and zero indicating a complete deficit,” McCall said.

Overall, at 24 weeks, 78 percent of patients had improved quality of life. While the study did not extend beyond six months, McCall said that in earlier studies he reported improvements in quality of life persist for a year in most patients.

McCall noted were side effects associated with therapy. Most patients experienced temporary learning difficulties for up to two weeks after therapy. Permanent memory loss of the events in the few months preceding ECT is also common.