Using Classification and Regression Tree Modeling to Investigate the Effects of Subanesthetic Ketamine Infusion on Remission of Suicidal Symptoms.
Pharmacopsychiatry February 26, 2026 Ping-Chung Wu, Wei-Chen Lin, Tung-Ping Su et al.
A combination of clinical markers better predicts which patients with treatment-resistant depression and suicidal thoughts will respond rapidly and durably to a single low-dose ketamine infusion than any single marker alone. The markers include mild or moderate depression severity, a shorter current episode, no more than four prior antidepressant failures, low or moderate current suicide risk, and a history of suicide attempts. The analysis of 67 patients from previous trials used a decision-tree model to identify these predictors. Clinicians can use these findings to select patients most likely to benefit, though further confirmation is needed.