Combined use of electroconvulsive therapy and antipsychotics in schizophrenia: the Indian evidence. A review and a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Combined use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and antipsychotics in acute phases of schizophrenia remains controversial and inadequately investigated. AIM This study tried to examine whether the ECT-antipsychotic combination was more efficacious than antipsychotic drugs used alone in the acute phase treatment of schizophrenia, by way of an open review and an exploratory meta-analysis of the Indian studies on the subject. METHOD Eleven studies (n = 651) and 4 controlled trials (n = 113) were selected for the open review and the meta-analysis, respectively. For the meta-analysis, a standard chi analysis was undertaken to check for heterogeneity. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores were used to estimate treatment effects. RESULTS The open review suggested that the ECT-antipsychotic combination was more efficacious than antipsychotic drugs used alone in the first few weeks of treatment of schizophrenia. The meta-analysis, using the Inverse Weighted Variance Model, showed that the ECT-antipsychotic combination provides an advantage of approximately 5 Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale points over antipsychotic drugs, in the first 4 to 5 weeks of treatment of schizophrenia (mean treatment effect, 4.89; 95% confidence intervals, 0.50-9.38). CONCLUSIONS The studies reviewed thus indicated that ECT-antipsychotic combinations might be better than antipsychotic drugs used alone in the first few weeks of treatment of schizophrenia; the main benefit seemed to be an acceleration of treatment response. Although the evidence was not conclusive because of several methodological difficulties, it does suggest that further research is required to determine the usefulness of the ECT-antipsychotic combination in the acute treatment of schizophrenia.