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Ketamine Increases Abstinence Days in Patients With Severe Alcohol Use Disorder
Three weekly ketamine infusions were associated with more days of alcohol abstinence at a 6-month follow-up in patients with severe alcohol use disorder, according to a double-blind, phase 2 trial published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
“Early evidence suggests that ketamine may be an effective treatment to sustain abstinence from alcohol,” researchers explained in the study introduction. “The authors investigated the safety and efficacy of ketamine compared with placebo in increasing abstinence in patients with alcohol use disorder.”
In addition to comparing ketamine with placebo, the study investigated the effect of combining the drug with 7 mindfulness-based relapse prevention therapy sessions compared with alcohol education sessions. To do so, researchers randomized participants, all of whom had severe alcohol use disorder, into 1 of 4 groups: (1) 3 weekly ketamine infusions plus psychological therapy; (2) 3 saline infusions plus psychological therapy; (3) 3 ketamine infusions plus alcohol education; or (4) 3 saline infusions plus alcohol education.
The intention-to-treat analysis included 96 participants with an average age of 44 years. Just over a third were women.
“Although confidence intervals were wide, consistent with a proof-of-concept study, there were a significantly greater number of days abstinent from alcohol in the ketamine group compared with the placebo group at 6-month follow-up (mean difference = 10.1%, 95% CI = 1.1, 19.0),” researchers wrote.
The greatest gap in days abstinent from alcohol was between the ketamine-plus-therapy group and the saline-plus-education group: 15.9%.
The relapse rate did not differ significantly between ketamine and placebo at 6 months, the study found. Ketamine was well-tolerated, with no serious adverse events.
“The findings suggest a possible beneficial effect of adding psychological therapy alongside ketamine treatment,” researchers wrote.
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