Can injecting ketamine during general anesthesia in caesarean section prevent postpartum depression?

Background: Postpartum depression is a common disabling psychosocial disorder that could have adverse effects on the life of the mother, infant and family. Considering the relatively known positive effect of ketamine on fundamental depression, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of ketamine on preventing postpartum depression in women undergoing caesarian section.Methods: The present double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on ۱۳۴ women undergoing scheduled caesarian section . Participants were randomly allocated into two groups of control and intervention. To induce anesthesia, in the intervention group ۱-۲ mg/kg of body weight of Nesdonal and ۰.۵ mg/kg of bod weight of ketamine and in the control group only ۳-۵ mg/kg of bod weight Nesdonal was administered. Data were gathered using Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in three stages of before the caesarian section and two and four weeks after the caesarian section. Data were analyzed using variance analysis with repeated measures and chi-square test.Results: Results of the present stud showed that the mean (± standard deviation) of the depression score in the intervention and control groups were respectively ۱۳.۷۸ ± ۳.۸۷ and ۱۳.۷۹ ± ۴.۷۸ (p = ۰.۹۸) before the caesarian section, ۱۱.۸۲ ± ۳.۴۱ and ۱۴.۳۴ ± ۴.۲۹ (p < ۰.۰۰۱) two weeks after and ۱۰.۸۴ ± ۳.۴۸ and ۱۳.۰۹ ± ۳.۷۹ (p = ۰.۰۰۱) four weeks after the caesarian section.Conclusions: Using ketamine in induction of general anesthesia could be effective in preventing post-partum depression. This finding requires confirmation with further studies.

Keywords:

Ketamine , Post-Partum Depression , Caesarian Section , General Anesthesia , Prevention