Ketamine not linked to PTSD in military trauma setting

(HealthDay)—Ketamine administration is not associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the military trauma setting, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in Anaesthesia.

Georges Mion, M.D., from Cochin Hospital in France, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study using data from the French Military Health Service for 274 soldiers who survived a war injury in Afghanistan (2010-2012) to examine the correlation between ketamine and PTSD.

The researchers found that 36 percent of the soldiers suffered from PTSD and 32 percent had received ketamine. Fifty-five and 20 percent of patients in the PTSD group and the no-PTSD group, respectively, had received ketamine. The median injury severity score was 5 for injured soldiers who received ketamine compared with 3 among the soldiers who did not receive ketamine. Only acute stress disorder and total number of surgical procedures were correlated independently with development of PTSD in a multivariable analysis.

"In this retrospective study, ketamine administration was not a risk factor for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder in the military trauma setting," the authors write.