Electroconvulsive Therapy Practice in Poland

Abstract

The rate of ECT use in Poland is among the lowest in the Central-East European region, which raises the possibility that many patients who otherwise would greatly benefit from ECT do not receive this treatment.

Use of electroconvulsive therapy in the Baltic states

“…The limited accessibility of ECT for these special patient populations is a cause for concern because it precludes the access to an effective and safe treatment modality. present in Europe between Denmark (Andersson and Bolwig 2002) and Poland (Gazdag et al 2009). Given the very similar historical, socio-cultural and political backgrounds of the three Baltic states, the differences are intriguing and might refl ect the infl uence of local factors like public attitude towards ECT or the views of individual department heads.…”

“…While the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been investigated in most Western European (Andersson and Bolwig 2002;Verwey et al 2005;Bertolin-Guill é n et al 2006;Sienaert et al 2006;Bickerton et al 2009;Schweder et al 2011;Loh et al 2012) and several Central/Eastern European countries (Gazdag et al 2004(Gazdag et al , 2009Dragasek et al 2008;Hranov et al 2012), nothing is known about its use in the Baltic states. These countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are located on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, were annexed by the Soviet Union between 1940 and 1991, and regained their independence in 1991.…”

“…Then, a 21-item, semi-structured questionnaire was sent out to all psychiatric inpatient settings that provided ECT in 2010. The survey instrument was an extended version of a questionnaire used in a similar study in Poland (Gazdag et al 2009), whose authors gave permission for its translation and use. An additional question regarding ECT contraindications was added to the original Polish version.…”

Accessibility, standards and challenges of electroconvulsive therapy in Western industrialized countries: A German example

“…With 3.4 per 10 5 inhabitants treated with ECT, Germany is ahead of Austria, Hungary, Poland and Switzerland and Bulgaria at the lower end of the list of treatment frequencies per country (Gazdag et al 2004(Gazdag et al , 2009a. With 37.85 patients treated per 10 5 inhabitants (Chanpattana 2007), Australia heads the list of countries with the highest treatment frequencies.…”

Identifying Recipients of Electroconvulsive Therapy: Data From Privately Insured Americans

“…Case et al (10) reported that the total number of hospitals offering ECT has been declining. In international settings, ECT utilization varies widely across regions, with utilization estimates ranging from 1.1 ECT patients per 100,000 people in Poland (11) to 41 ECT patients per 100,000 people in Sweden (12). The most recent utilization estimates for the procedure in the United States date to 1999 or earlier (13) and vary widely by region, ranging from eight ECT patients per 100,000 people in California (14) in 1995 to 42 ECT patients per 100,000 people in New England in the same year (15).…”