SynthesisFrontiers in neuroscience2022
The effect of ketamine on cognition, anxiety, and social functioning in adults with psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psychedelics as an intervention for psychological, existential distress in terminally ill patients: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative safety and tolerability of ketamine and esketamine for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Ketamine for mood disorders, anxiety, and suicidality in children and adolescents: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of Continuous Infusion of Different Doses of Esketamine on the Bispectral Index During Sevoflurane Anesthesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Drug design, development and therapy · 2024Trial
- Add-on intravenous ketamine eliminates treatment lag period in severe non-treatment-resistant major depression: Rapid antidepressant and anti-suicidal effects - A randomized controlled trial.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Investigating the impact of serotonergic psychedelic drugs, MDMA and ketamine on social cognition in psychiatric disorders: A scoping review.Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Efficacy of Ketamine Infusion for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Patients with Chronic Pain: a Narrative Review.Current pain and headache reports · 2025Review
- Effects of Ketamine vs. Midazolam in Adolescent Treatment Resistant Depression.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- From antidepressants and psychotherapy to oxytocin, vagus nerve stimulation, ketamine and psychedelics: how established and novel treatments can improve social functioning in major depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: It has been shown that ketamine can improve suicidality and depression. Evidence for other dimensions of psychopathology is lacking. We undertook a systematic review to investigate the effect of ketamine on cognition, anxiety, quality of life, and social functioning in adults with psychiatric disorders. Methods: PubMed (Medline), Scopus, PsycINFO, and EMBASE were searched up to April 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on ketamine [or its S (+) enantiomer] reporting data on cognition, anxiety, quality of life, social functioning in adults with psychiatric disorders were included. Standardized mean difference (SMD) was used for summarizing continuous outcomes. Results: Twenty-two reports were included in the final selection, of which 20, corresponding to 1,298 participants, were included in the quantitative synthesis. Affective disorders were the predominant diagnostic category. Median follow-up time was 21 days. The evidence was rated moderate to very low. In most trials, ketamine was administered intravenously or as adjuvant to electro-convulsant therapy (ECT). Only 2 trials of intranasal esketamine were identified. The effect of ketamine on depression was confirmed (SMD: -0.61 [95% CI: -1.06; -0.16]). Furthermore, by pooling results of 6 RCTs, ketamine may be effective in reducing anxiety symptoms (SMD: -0.42 [95% CI: -0.84; 0.003]), particularly when administered not within ECT (5 trials; SMD: -0.58 [95% CI: -1.07; -0.09]). However, there was moderate heterogeneity of results. Patients treated with ketamine also had an improvement in social functioning (SMD: -0.31 [95% CI: -0.52; -0.10]), although the estimate was based only on 2 studies. No difference to comparators was found with respect to cognition and quality of life. Conclusion: Alongside the antidepressant effect, ketamine may also improve anxiety and social functioning in adults with affective disorders.
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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.