Intraoperative Esketamine and Postpartum Depression Among Women With Cesarean Delivery: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
JAMA network open February 3, 2025 Li Ren, Ting Zhang, Bingyu Zou et al. 13 citations
A single-site randomized clinical trial at a Chinese hospital found that administering a low dose of esketamine during cesarean delivery significantly reduced the incidence of postpartum depression at six weeks. Among 308 women, 10.4% who received esketamine developed postpartum depression compared with 19.5% who received a placebo saline infusion, a relative risk of 0.53. The authors suggest esketamine shows promise for preventing postpartum depression in this setting but call for further research in broader clinical practice.