A Study On Ketamine Abusers In Georgetown, Kuala Lumpur And Johor Bahru
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Date
2016-09
Authors
R. Suppiah, S. Batumalai
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Abstract
Ketamine an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) is an anaesthetic agent, widely used as a club-drug. To date, there is no data on the socio-demographic characteristics of ketamine users in Malaysia. This study aims to investigate the socio-demographic characteristics and health problems associated with ketamine use among regular ketamine users. A total of n=150 ketamine users participated in this cross-sectional study. Respondents were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling from three states (Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor) where ketamine use was reported to be widespread. All the surveys were conducted through face-to-face interviews by one trained research assistants. Respondents were divided into two groups based on their duration of ketamine use (short-term <2 and long-term users ≥2 years). The study analysis is divided into two parts; (i) total sample n=150, and (ii) male sample n=127 (those who reported ketamine use only n=36 and ketamine poly-drug use n=91). Most were males, predominantly of Chinese ethnicity. The respondents mean age in this study was 28.7 years-old (SD=8.46). A substantial number reported to use ketamine with other drugs (ketamine poly-drug use) (n=107). Long-term ketamine users n=150, have higher odds of experiencing urological problems such as frequent urination (OR: 2.89: 1.36-6.15: p<0.004), nocturia (OR: 2.23: 1.115-4.32: p<0.013), incontinence (OR: 3.10: 1.57-6.13: p<0.001), urgency (OR: 2.28: 1.12-4.65: p<0.017), interstitial cystitis (OR: 4.47: 2.23-8.96: p<0.000) and dysuria (OR: 3.14: 1.57-6.27: p<0.001), compared to short-term
ketamine users. While for male respondents n=127, long-term ketamine users who reported ketamine use only were more likely to experience urological problems such as nocturia (OR: 16: 2.7-93.6: p<0.001) and urgency (OR: 6: 1.1-33.3: p<0.030) than short-term ketamine users. Conversely, long-term ketamine poly-drug users had higher odds of reporting more urological problems such as frequent urination (OR: 3.7: 1.42-9.44: p<0.006), incontinence (OR: 6.2: 2.5-15.4: p<0.000), interstitial cystitis (OR: 7.6: 2.9-19.53: p<0.000) and dysuria (OR: 4.6: 1.9-11.42: p<0.001) compared to short-term ketamine poly-drug users. Both long-term users who reported ketamine use only (OR: 6.1: 1.4-26.9: p<0.013) and ketamine poly-drug use (OR: 5.8: 2.3-14.45: p<0.000) were more likely to report erectile-dysfunction than short-term users. There is a need to address the health problems associated with ketamine use in Malaysia. This study supports the current literature that ketamine use can cause urological problems. This is the first study to identify erectile-dysfunction problem in regular male ketamine users.
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Investigate the socio-demographic characteristics and health problems associated , with ketamine use among regular ketamine users.