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Tracking the Trend of Ketamine Use in China During 2010–2015: a Retrospective Observational Study

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Abstract

This study investigates the trend of spatial distribution and characteristics of ketamine users in China during 2010–2015 based on China’s National Surveillance System on Drug Abuse (NSSDA). A total of 28,670 ketamine users registered during the study period, and reported cases increased from 3192 in 2010 to 6878 in 2014, and dropped back to 4895 in 2015 (APC = 13.9, 95% CI: − 0.3 to 30.1, p = 0.1). Spatial distribution analyses at provincial level showed that regions with high report rate were clustered in southern China around Guangdong, and trends of spread into inland areas were observed. The proportion of new users, which reflected the relative growth of ketamine prevalence, increased from 6.27 to 12.34% over the study period (p < 0.001). Besides, the odds of being new users were higher among migrant users (also known as “floating population” in China) compared with local registered users. Our study verifies a significant association between floating population and ketamine spread, which calls for further investigation.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to appreciate MPH Yuanyuan Jin for useful advices in preparation of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation (grant nos. 91546203 and 91846302), Beijing Advanced Discipline Construction Project (grant no. BMU2019GJJXK005), and National key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0501603).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Haoxiang Tang, Wenjun Tang & Zhongwei Jia

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Haoxiang Tang & Zuhong Lu

  3. National Drug Abuse Monitoring Center, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Xin An

  4. State Key Lab of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Zuhong Lu

  5. Center for Intelligent Public Health, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Zhongwei Jia

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  1. Haoxiang Tang
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Correspondence to Zhongwei Jia.

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As secondary analysis of existing database, without access to any type of personal identification information, this study was exempted from Peking University’s IRB approval, and informed consent was not needed.

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Tang, H., Tang, W., An, X. et al. Tracking the Trend of Ketamine Use in China During 2010–2015: a Retrospective Observational Study. Int J Ment Health Addiction 21, 2604–2617 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00741-6

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