Associations between substance use treatment and ketamine use: A hypothesis-generating analysis

Area of Science:

• Clinical Psychiatry
• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine

Background:

• Ketamine is increasingly utilized in clinical settings for mental health and pain management.
• However, ketamine misuse presents significant public health concerns.
• Limited research exists on ketamine use patterns among individuals undergoing treatment for substance use disorders (SUD).

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the association between past-year ketamine use and receipt of SUD treatment in the U.S.
• To investigate ketamine use across different substance types and use categories (use, misuse, disorder) within SUD treatment populations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the 2021-2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
• Included U.S. residents aged 12 and older who reported substance use.
• Employed adjusted logistic regression models for stratified analyses.

Main Results:

• Among 173,808 participants reporting substance use, 3.19% received SUD treatment and 0.26% reported ketamine use.
• Ketamine use was significantly more prevalent among those receiving SUD treatment (1.39%) compared to those not (0.22%).
• Treatment for various SUDs (alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, methamphetamine, pain relievers, opioids) was associated with higher odds of ketamine use.

Conclusions:

• Past-year SUD treatment serves as an indicator of elevated ketamine exposure across multiple substance domains.
• Findings suggest a need for clinical screening and patient education on the risks of unsupervised ketamine use.
• Further research is warranted to clarify the timing, intent, and outcomes of ketamine use within SUD populations.