Electroconvulsive therapy in Chuvashia: history of implementation and 30 years of empirical evidence

Electroconvulsive therapy in Chuvashia: history of implementation and 30 years of empirical evidence

 

Authors

 

A.V. Golenkov

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Chuvash State University named after I.N. Ulyanov”, Cheboksary, Russian Federation

P.B. Zotov
Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Tyumen State Medical University” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Tyumen, Russian Federation

F.V. Orlov

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Chuvash State University named after I.N. Ulyanov”, Cheboksary, Russian Federation

 

https://doi.org/10.26617/1810-3111-2026-1(130)-107-115

 

Journal: Siberian Herald of Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. 2026; 1 (130):  107-115.

 

Abstract

Background. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has remained an effective treatment of mental disorders (MD) for nearly 90 years. However, ECT is rarely used in Russia, and very few clinical and epidemiological studies, especially those examining regional aspects, have been conducted. Objective: to analyze the application of modified ECT for the treatment of MD in Chuvashia for nearly 30 years. Materials and Methods. We calculated the total number of ECT procedures administered between May 1997 and February 2026, and analyzed the annual reports of the Republican Psychiatric Hospital (Cheboksary). Statistical analysis included the calculation of descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and 95% confidence interval). Results. During the analyzed period, 2,216 patients (51.8% men and 48.2% women) aged 15 to 71 years (mean age 35.1±11.5) were treated. They underwent 21,179 modified (premedication, propofol and muscle relaxants) procedures (from 2 to 20, on average per course of treatment ‒ 9.25±1.04; CI 8.75-9.75) with bilateral (bitemporal and bifrontal) application of electrodes, 2-3 times a week. The prevalence of ECT ranged from 3.56 to 8.98 per 100,000 population (on average ‒ 6.51±1.84). Modified ECT was prescribed annually to 28 to 125 patients (CI 78.62-103.04), which is about 2% of the total number of patients with MD treated during the year (CI 1.84-2.40%); including 93.1% of those aged 18-59 years, 1.9% of those under 18 years (CI 1.2-2.5%), and 5% of those 60 years and older (CI 3.6-6.3%). Among MD, schizophrenia was the most common (87.2%), followed by affective-paranoid psychoses (7.9%), affective disorders (4.5%), and other MDs (0.4%). The bases for prescribing ECT were prolonged and treatment-resistant hallucinatory-delusional and severe affective disorders, much less often ‒ a catatonic symptom complex, including malignant neuroleptic syndrome and febrile schizophrenia. High-quality remissions were observed in 7.4% of patients, no treatment effect was detected in 6.1%. Side effects were noted in 10% of patients, complications were extremely rare (artificial ventilation was performed in 2.86%), and fatal outcomes were not recorded. Conclusion. Long-term empirical evidence of the use of modified ECT allowed us to obtain the most reliable results in Chuvashia, confirming many familiar patterns (safety, efficacy, uniqueness of the method, expanding the possibilities of treating a number of MDs and critical states). The findings of the study appear to be quite stable and relatively constant over many years in terms of the sex and age composition of patients and MD groups, the average number of procedures performed per course of ECT, and its prevalence rates in the region.

 

Keywords: modified electroconvulsive therapy, Chuvashia (Russia), mental disorders, prevalence, dynamics of use.

 

Article (pdf)

 

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Materials  

 

For citation: Golenkov A.V., Zotov P.B., Orlov F.V. Electroconvulsive therapy in Chuvashia: history of implementation and 30 years of empirical evidence. Siberian Herald of Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry.2026, 1 (130): 107-115. https://doi.org/10.26617/1810-3111-2026-1(130)-107-115

 

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