Abstract:Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of pneumonia complicated with modified electroconvulsive therapy (MECT) and construct and validate an early warning model.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 1802 psychiatric patients who underwent MECT treatment at Guangzhou Medical University Affiliated Brain Hospital from February 2023 to February 2024. During or within 48 hours of terminating MECT treatment, patients were divided into pneumonia group and non-pneumonia group based on whether pneumonia occurred. The clinical data of the two groups were compared to analyze the influencing factors of pneumonia in MECT patients and to construct and validate a risk prediction model for pneumonia in MECT patients.Results Among 1802 MECT patients, 69 cases developed pneumonia, the incidence rate was 3.83% (69 cases /1802 cases), including 46 cases of aspiration pneumonia and 23 cases of hypostatic pneumonia. The proportion of antipsychotic drugs, respiratory recovery time, age ≥ 60 years, convulsive onset time and dysphagia in the concurrent group were higher than those in the non-concurrent group (P <0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the use of antipsychotics [O^R = 5.150 (95% CI: 2.264, 11.715)], age [O^R = 5.613 (95% CI: 2.467, 12.767)], duration of convulsions [O^R = 3.842 (95% CI: 1.689, 8.740)], dysphagia [O^R = 4.563 (95% CI: 2.006, 10.380)] were risk factors for pneumonia in MECT patients (P <0.05). The sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve were 79.71% (95% CI: 0.680, 0.881), 91.06% (95% CI: 0.896, 0.923), and 0.904 (95% CI: 0.809, 0.965) for predicting pneumonia in MECT patients.Conclusion MECT patients have a higher risk of developing aspiration pneumonia. The use of antipsychotic drugs, older age, longer seizure duration, and swallowing difficulty are associated with pneumonia in MECT patients. Constructing a risk early warning model can help in early screening for the risk of pneumonia in MECT patients.