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HealthDay News — A single low dose of esketamine after childbirth reduces depressive episodes at 42 days postpartum among mothers with prenatal depression, according to a study published online April 10 in The BMJ.
Shuo Wang, MD, from Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind trial with 2 parallel arms involving 364 mothers aged 18 years and older from five tertiary care hospitals in China with at least mild prenatal depression. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 0.2mg/kg esketamine or placebo infused intravenously over 40 minutes after childbirth (180 and 181 women, respectively).
The researchers found that a major depressive episode was observed in 6.7 and 25.4% of mothers in the esketamine and placebo groups, respectively, at 42 days postpartum (relative risk, 0.26). The esketamine group had lower scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at 7 days (median difference, −3) and 42 days (median difference, −3). The esketamine group also had lower Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores at 42 days postpartum (median difference, −4). The esketamine group had a higher incidence of neuropsychiatric adverse events (45.1 vs 22.0%); however, the symptoms lasted less than one day and did not require drug treatment.
“Low-dose esketamine should be considered in mothers with symptoms of prenatal depression,” the authors write.
