Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28477497›Full record

Trial reportJournal of affective disorders2017

Anhedonia as a clinical correlate of suicidal thoughts in clinical ketamine trials.

Elizabeth D Ballard, Kathleen Wills, Níall Lally, Erica M Richards, David A Luckenbaugh, Tessa Walls, Rezvan Ameli, Mark J Niciu, Nancy E Brutsche, Lawrence Park and 1 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of affective disorders, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06957704 (Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Ketamine in the Treatment of Depressive Episode With Suicidal Ideation and/or Behavior in Adolescents), which is not on this map. Cited by 71 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
71citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06957704 phase3not yet recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2025, after this paper: background citation

Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Ketamine in the Treatment of Depressive Episode With Suicidal Ideation and/or Behavior in Adolescents

TypeinterventionalSponsorFederal University of São PauloRan2025 to 2028Enrolled60ConditionsDepressive Disorder, Suicidal IdeasArmsketamine, Midazolam
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

71 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Let's Move Towards Precision Suicidology.Current psychiatry reports · 2025
    Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Anhedonia: Current and future treatments.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. Article

11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Elizabeth D BallardExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA. Electronic address: Elizabeth.Ballard@nih.gov.
Kathleen WillsExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Níall LallyExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK.
Erica M RichardsExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
David A LuckenbaughExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Tessa WallsExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Rezvan AmeliExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Mark J NiciuExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Nancy E BrutscheExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Lawrence ParkExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Carlos A ZarateExperimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.

Funding

Target validation of novel therapeutic agents in mood disordersZIAMH002927 · NIMH · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH · PI ZARATE, CARLOS · 2010 to 2025
$37.1M
Intramural NIH HHS Z99 MH999999
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIdentifying clinical correlates associated with reduced suicidal ideation may highlight new avenues for the treatment of suicidal thoughts. Anhedonia occurs across psychiatric diagnoses and has been associated with specific neural circuits in response to rapid-acting treatments, such as ketamine. This analysis sought to evaluate whether reductions in suicidal ideation after ketamine administration were related to reduced levels of anhedonia, independent of depressive symptoms.

methodsThis post-hoc analysis included treatment-resistant patients with either major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder (BD) from several clinical trials of ketamine. Anhedonia was assessed using a subscale of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS). The outcome of interest was suicidal ideation, as measured by a subscale of the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI5), one day post-ketamine administration.

resultsAnhedonia, as measured by the SHAPS, was associated with suicidal thoughts independent of depressive symptoms both before and after ketamine administration. One day post-ketamine administration, improvements on the SHAPS accounted for an additional 13% of the variance in suicidal thought reduction, beyond the influence of depressive symptoms. The BDI anhedonia subscale was not significantly associated with suicidal thoughts after adjusting for depressive symptoms. LIMITATIONS: Data were limited to patients experiencing a major depressive episode and may not be generalizable to patients experiencing an active suicidal crisis.

conclusionsSuicidal thoughts may be related to symptoms of anhedonia independent of other depressive symptoms. These results have implications for the potential mechanisms of action of ketamine on suicidal thoughts.

Indexed as

Suicidal IdeationAdultAnesthetics, DissociativeAnhedoniaBipolar DisorderDepressionFemaleHumansKetamineMajor Depressive DisorderMaleMiddle AgedPsychiatric Status Rating ScalesAnesthetics, DissociativeKetamineAnhedoniaDepressionKetamineRDoCSuicide

Identifiers

PMID28477497
PMCPMC5515296

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.