National Library of Science – October 11, 2017
We found ketamine resulted in a significantly greater reduction in anxiety relative to placebo on the LSAS (Time Å~ Treatment: F9,115=2.6, p=0.01) but not the VAS-Anxiety (Time Å~ Treatment: F10,141=0.4, p=0.95). Participants were significantly more likely to exhibit a treatment response after ketamine infusion relative to placebo in the first 2 weeks following infusion measured on the LSAS (33.33% response ketamine vs 0% response placebo, Wilcoxon signed-rank test z=2.24, p=0.025) and VAS (88.89% response ketamine vs 52.94% response placebo, Wilcoxon signed-rank test z=2.12, p=0.034). In conclusion, this proof-of-concept trial provides initial evidence that ketamine may be effective in reducing anxiety.