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Concerns about potential long-term adverse cognitive effects lead many elderly patients and their families to refuse otherwise indicated treatment with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Investigators conducted baseline cognitive testing on 110 patients with unipolar major depression referred for ECT (mean age, 73; 66% women) who subsequently received an average of 14 treatments (right unilateral, 60%; bilateral, 7%; initially unilateral switched to bilateral, 33%). Patients who had any comorbid psychiatric or neurological diagnosis were excluded.
Patients were retested at various intervals, including 6-month follow-up after the last treatment; 99 patients completed baseline cognitive testing, and 26% declined retesting at 6-month follow-up. O…