Body mass index is associated with the antidepressant effects of intravenous ketamine in patients with depression.
Frontiers in psychiatry January 1, 2025 Jian-Qiang Tan, Li-Mei Gu, Yan-Ling Zhou et al. 2 citations
Patients with depression and a higher baseline body mass index (BMI) experienced greater reductions in depressive symptoms after six intravenous ketamine infusions compared with those with a lower baseline BMI. In a study of 135 patients (103 with major depressive disorder, 32 with bipolar depression), those with a lower BMI (under 26) showed a significantly higher response rate after the first infusion (40.3% vs. 23.6%), but this difference disappeared by the sixth infusion. The overall change in depression scores over time differed significantly between the groups, with the higher-BMI group showing greater improvement. The findings are from an exploratory, post-hoc analysis of an open-label, single-arm trial.