The following is a summary of “Suicidal ideation following ketamine prescription in patients with recurrent major depressive disorder: a nation-wide cohort study,” published in the August 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Pan et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study on ketamine that has drawn rapid attention for treating Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and suicidal ideation.
They used TriNetX US Collaborative Network, a platform for aggregating electronic health records (EHR) data from 108 million patients in 62 healthcare organizations in the US and the population of 5,14,988 patients with MDD who were prescribed Ketamine in EHR. The results were compared with other groups of the population who were prescribed antidepressants other than Ketamine.
The result showed a significant decrease in suicidal ideation in the patients with a Ketamine prescription. The effect of anesthetic drug was studied in contrast to other standard medications with HR = 0.63 (95% CI: 0.53–0.76) at 7 days, 0.67 (95% CI: 0.59–0.77) at 30 days, 0.69 (95% CI: 0.62–0.77) at 90 days, 0.74 (95% CI: 0.67–0.81) at 180 days, and 0.78 (95% CI: 0.69–0.83) at 270 days. The effect was observed in adults over 24 years of age, females, males, and white patients with recurrent MDD.
They provided real-world evidence that ketamine has long-term benefits in mitigating suicidal ideation in patients with recurrent MDD.
Source: nature.com/articles/s41398-024-03033-4
