ArticlePsychopharmacology2021
Age affects temporal response, but not durability, to serial ketamine infusions for treatment refractory depression.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of berberine on the components of metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- The effect of ketamine on cognition, anxiety, and social functioning in adults with psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Comparison of the Antianhedonic Effects of Repeated-dose Intravenous Ketamine in Older and Younger Adults with Major Depressive Episode.Current neuropharmacology · 2025Trial
- Treatment-resistant Depression in the Post-ketamine Era: Unmet Needs beyond Rapid Response.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Nitrous oxide for late-life depression with inadequate antidepressant response: a randomised controlled trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Ketamine in the effective management of chronic pain, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder for Veterans: A meta-analysis and systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Real-world effectiveness of repeated intravenous ketamine infusions for treatment-resistant depression in transitional age youth.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Article
- Sympathetic Blocks as a Predictor for Response to Ketamine Infusion in Patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Multicenter Study.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2023Article
- Prophylactic (R,S)-Ketamine Is Effective Against Stress-Induced Behaviors in Adolescent but Not Aged Mice.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Acute (Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleKetamine is a novel, rapid-acting antidepressant for treatment refractory depression (TRD); however, clinical durability is poor and treatment response trajectories vary. Little is known about which patient characteristics predict faster or more durable ketamine responses. Ketamine's antidepressant mechanism may involve modulation of glutamatergic signaling and long-term potentiation (LTP); these neuroplasticity pathways are also attenuated with older age.
objectiveA retrospective analysis examining the impact of patient age on the speed and durability of ketamine's antidepressant effects in 49 veterans receiving serial intravenous ketamine infusions for TRD.
methodThe relationship between age and percent change in Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) scores was compared across six serial ketamine infusions (twice-weekly for 3 weeks) using a linear-mixed model.
resultsA significant Age-X-Infusion number interaction (F = 3.01, p = .0274) indicated that the relationship between age and treatment response depended on infusion number. Follow-up tests showed that younger age significantly predicted greater clinical improvement at infusion #4 (t = 3.02, p = .004); this relationship was attenuated at infusion #5 (t = 1.95, p = .057) and was absent at infusion #6. Age was not a significant predictor of treatment durability, defined as percent change in BDI-II 3 weeks following infusion #6.
conclusionsThese data preliminarily suggest that younger age is associated with a faster response over six serial ketamine infusions; by infusion #6 and subsequent weeks of clinical follow-up, age no longer predicts ketamine's antidepressant activity. Age may mediate the speed but not the durability or total efficacy of ketamine treatment, suggesting that dissociable mechanisms may underlie differing aspects of ketamine's antidepressant activity.
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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.