Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39420535›Full record

ArticleJournal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)2025

Ketamine use in a large global sample: Characteristics, patterns of use and emergency medical treatment.

Karen P Barrios, Dean J Connolly, Jason A Ferris, Larissa J Maier, Monica J Barratt, Adam R Winstock, Cheneal Puljević, Gail Gilchrist

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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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

8 authors.

Karen P BarriosNational Addiction Center, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-1385-0624
Dean J ConnollyNational Addiction Center, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Jason A FerrisFaculty of Medicine, Center for Health Services Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-7474-0173
Larissa J MaierDepartment of Clinical Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Monica J BarrattSocial Equity Research Center and Digital Ethnography Research Center, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Adam R WinstockGlobal Drug Survey, London, UK.
Cheneal PuljevićFaculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-3658-9772
Gail GilchristNational Addiction Center, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundKetamine's popularity has surged globally in the past decade, especially among young men. Emergency department visits due to its toxicity remain relatively rare, often linked to co-occurring use of other substances.

aimsUsing data from the Global Drug Survey (GDS) 2018, this study explored the correlates associated with lifetime and past-year ketamine use, and estimated the socio-demographic characteristics, usage patterns and experiences of respondents seeking emergency medical treatment (EMT) after ketamine use.

methodsSecondary analysis of GDS 2018, an online cross-sectional survey on drug use patterns conducted between November 2017 and January 2018.

resultsThe survey received 130,761 valid responses, with 5.93% reporting lifetime ketamine use, of which 57.70% used ketamine within the past year. Predominantly, respondents were from Germany, England and Denmark. Within the past year, 8.55% met the criteria for ketamine dependence. Respondents who used ketamine in their lifetime tended to be young (mean (x̄) = 27.37 years), men, heterosexual and of white ethnicity. Younger age (x̄ = 24.84 years), gay sexual orientation, student status, past-year use of other drugs and no lifetime mental health diagnosis were associated with past-year ketamine use. Among 4477 respondents reporting past-year ketamine use, 120 adverse events were reported, with less than 0.10% prompting EMT seeking.

conclusionThe study reveals frequent ketamine use but low harm occurrence, underscoring the complex interplay between ketamine use, substance use and dependence, and related factors. This underscores the need to reassess EMT priorities, implement tailored harm reduction strategies and incorporate comprehensive screening for addressing ketamine and substance dependence challenges.

Indexed as

KetamineSubstance-Related DisordersAdolescentAdultCross-Sectional StudiesEmergency Service, HospitalFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSurveys and QuestionnairesYoung AdultKetamineEmergency medical treatmentGlobal Drug Surveyketaminerisk factorssubstance use

Identifiers

PMID39420535
PMCPMC11760648

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.