A recent study analyzing data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that past-year recreational ketamine use among adults has increased dramatically since 2015, including significant changes in associations with depression and sociodemographic characteristics. such as race, age and education. state. Ketamine use has shown promise in clinical trials as a therapy for several mental illnesses, including treatment-resistant depression, and new research suggests that continued monitoring of recreational use trends is crucial to balance these clinical benefits with risk. of uncontrolled recreational use.
Key findings include:
- Overall, recreational ketamine use over the past year increased by 81.8% from 2015 to 2019 and 40% from 2021 to 2022.
- Adults with depression were 80% more likely to have used ketamine in the past year between 2015 and 2019, but this association weakened in later years. In 2021-2022, ketamine use increased only among those without depression.
- In 2021-2022, adults ages 26-34 were 66% more likely to have used ketamine in the past year compared to adults ages 18-25. Those with college degrees were more than twice as likely to have used ketamine compared to people with a high school education or less.
- People were more likely to use ketamine if they used other substances, such as ecstasy/MDMA, GHB and cocaine.
The researchers recommend expanding the scope of prevention to settings such as universities, where younger adults may be at higher risk, as well as providing education about the harms of polydrug use, particularly in combination with opioids. As medical ketamine becomes more available, they also emphasize the need for continued monitoring of recreational ketamine use patterns and for more research to understand the factors that contribute to ketamine use.
The study, published online in the Journal of affective disorderswas led by Kevin Yang, MD, a third-year resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. The research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.