Ketamine could relieve the symptoms of depression in as little as 24 hours, new research suggests
Ketamine could relieve the symptoms of depression in as little as 24 hours, new research suggests.
The drug, which is also used in anaesthesia, can relieve symptoms in more than 60 per cent of people with depression within 24 hours.
In contrast, most prescription anti-depressants take four to six weeks to prove effective.
The findings come after the biggest ever study to examine ketamine’s effect on depression.
Some 73 people with the condition were involved in the U.S. study, with two thirds given ketamine, and one third midazolam – a short-acting anaesthetic medication.
The researchers found that 64 per cent of those given ketamine improved within 24 hours.
In contrast, only 28 per cent of those given midazolam improved.
The research was carried out at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York,
Lead researcher, Dr Sanjay Mathew, said: ‘Through this study, we’ve now confirmed in an optimised trial design that ketamine does have robust and rapid antidepressant effects.’
Ketamine was given to the patients intravenously and in very low doses.
Dr Mathew explained: ‘All previous studies of ketamine have compared it to saline, an inert placebo without physical or psychological reactions.
‘The problem with this is that ketamine has usual side effects, such as feelings of floating, feelings of altered sense of time, maybe some blurred vision or some other physical or psychological symptoms.
‘Patients know that they received something active and the raters would know that as well, so the validity of the study may be in doubt with saline studies.
‘This is the first trial to compare ketamine to another drug that also has psychoactive properties.’
Dr Mathew and his colleagues followed the patients for seven days and found that many of the patients who received ketamine continued to benefit from the treatment after seven days, although there was a decrease in benefits by day seven.
The drug, which is also used in anaesthesia, can relieve symptoms in more than 60 per cent of people with depression within 24 hours. Image shows the ketamine molecular model
They then studied the subgroup of patients who did well at day seven to see how long they remained depression-free and found that a small group of patients were able to remain depression-free for an additional four weeks.
Dr Mathew says that there is still much more that needs to be understood before ketamine can be used clinically.
For example, the best dose to use would have to be established and side effects, such as elevated blood pressure, would have to be taken into account.
The researchers believe that ketamine reduces depression by influencing the glutamate system – glutamate are neurotransmitters which speed up the transmission of information from one nerve cell to the next.
IS DEPRESSION IN MEN MORE COMMON THAN CURRENTLY THOUGHT?
Severe depression could be more common in men than women, new research suggests.
It has long been thought that women are 70 per cent more likely to suffer from severe depression than men are.
However, the new study suggests that if the symptoms of depression in men are properly diagnosed, the condition could be just as common, if not more common, in men than it is in women.
According to the research, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, this could explain why men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women are.
The Los Angeles Times reports that when symptoms such as rage, risk-taking and substance abuse are taken into consideration, the number of men diagnosed with depression increases significantly.
It is thought that many men with depression are currently not diagnosed because their symptoms can be very different to those seen in women with the condition.
‘When it comes to depression in men, to some extent we have blinders on,’ Dr Andrew Leuchter, a psychiatrist at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times. ‘We have not been asking about and taking into account a range of symptoms that may be gender-specific.’
Common symptoms of depression include feeling down, difficulty sleeping, feeling guilty, feeling worthless and a loss of interest in hobbies.
However, particularly in men, symptoms can also include anger, aggression and hyperactivity.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2405677/Ketamine-relieve-symptoms-depression-60-patients--little-24-hours.html#ixzz2dNaUI1Xc
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