Vital Sign Changes During Intravenous Ketamine Infusions for Depression: An Exploratory Study of Prognostic...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Subanesthetic intravenous ketamine is an effective treatment for major depressive disorder.
• The relationship between sympathetic response and ketamine treatment outcomes is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the relationship between sympathetic response to ketamine infusions and treatment outcomes.
• To determine if physiological sensitivity predicts treatment responsiveness.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of 145 outpatients with major depressive disorder or bipolar depression receiving ketamine infusions.
• Patient characteristics, depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), and vital signs were analyzed.
• Responders were defined as a 50% reduction in PHQ-9 or a final score ≤10.

Main Results:

• Ketamine responders (51.7%) exhibited a significantly greater increase in systolic blood pressure during the first infusion compared to nonresponders.
• No significant differences were observed in diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, or rate pressure product between groups.
• Vital sign changes during subsequent infusions did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusions:

• Physiological sensitivity, particularly systolic blood pressure response, may predict treatment responsiveness to ketamine.
• Blood pressure and heart rate increases were not consistently observed.
• Further research is needed to explore factors influencing physiological responses to ketamine.