2015 to 2022 Saw Rise in Ketamine Use

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — There have been shifts in both the patterns and correlates of ketamine use from 2015 to 2022, according to a study published online Jan. 7 in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Kevin H. Yang, M.D., from the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues used data from the 2015 to 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine trends in past-year ketamine use by depression status.

The researchers found that overall ketamine use prevalence increased from 2015 to 2019 (from 0.11 to 0.20 percent; an 81.8 percent increase) and from 2021 to 2022 (from 0.20 to 0.28 percent; a 40.0 percent increase). Use increased from 2015 to 2019 among adults with and without depression (by 139.3 and 66.7 percent, respectively). From 2021 to 2022, an increase occurred only among those without depression (by 38.9 percent). Depression was associated with increased odds of ketamine use in the 2015 to 2019 period (adjusted odds ratio, 1.80) but not in later years. From 2021 to 2022, adults aged 26 to 34 years and those with a college degree had higher odds for use. Higher odds of use were also consistently seen with use of various other drugs, including ecstasy/MDMA and gamma-hydroxybutyrate.

“Monitoring of use patterns is crucial to inform prevention and harm reduction strategies,” the authors write.

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