Background. Sleep disturbances are

Background. Sleep disturbances are a key feature of major depression. Electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) may improve
polysomnography-assessed sleep characteristics, but its short-term effects on actigraphy-assessed and subjective sleep characteristics
are unknown. We therefore aimed to assess the effects of ECT on subjective and objective sleep parameters in a proof-ofprinciple
study. Methods. We assessed subjective and objective sleep parameters in 12 severely depressed patients up to 5 consecutive
days during their ECT course, corresponding to a total of 43 nights (including 19 ECT sessions).The 12 patients were 83% female and
on average 62 (standard deviation (SD) 14) years old and had an average MADRS score of 40 at baseline (SD 21). Results. Subjective
and objective sleep parameters were not directly affected by ECT. The subjective sleep efficiency parameter was similar on the day
after ECT and other days. ECT did not affect the number of errors in the Sustained Attention to Response Task. Patients subjectively
underestimated their total sleep time by 1.4 hours (