title: The effect of electroconvulsive therapy treatments on blood sugar in nondiabetic patients.
abstract: There are conflicting data in the literature about the effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on blood sugar. In general, glycemic control and insulin requirements show no changes over a course of treatments, although there is interindividual variation. What is understudied is the acute effect of single ECT treatments on blood sugar in the post-ictal time period. To shed more light on this issue, we conducted a simple study of blood sugar assessed by fingerstick before and 20 minutes after ECT treatments in 33 nondiabetic patients. There was a small though statistically significant rise of 9 mg/dL in blood glucose after ECT treatments, without effect of age or gender. We conclude that ECT does not have a clinically significant effect on blood sugar in non-diabetic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. rasmussen.keith@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Keith G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.forename: Debra A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose