{"id":779480,"date":"2026-09-23T01:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T01:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/779480\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T01:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T01:40:11","slug":"children-as-young-as-13-being-referred-to-uk-hospital-suffering-from-ketamine-bladder-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/779480\/","title":{"rendered":"Children as young as 13 being referred to UK hospital suffering from \u2018ketamine bladder\u2019 | Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Children as young as 13 in the UK have been referred to a specialist clinic for a \u201cdevastating\u201d bladder condition linked to sustained use of ketamine.<\/p>\n

Medics at Alder Hey children\u2019s hospital in Liverpool opened the first ketamine clinic in the UK for young people amid a surge in urology problems linked to addiction of the drug.<\/p>\n

Now analysis of the first patients to use the service shows some are as young as 13, with most being girls and most living in deprived areas.<\/p>\n

Excessive use of ketamine can cause serious health problems as the drug and its breakdown products sit in the bladder for a long time, where they can damage the lining and muscle tissue.<\/p>\n

Ketamine-induced uropathy \u2013 also known as ketamine bladder \u2013 is a severe and painful condition caused by the drug damaging the bladder, urinary tubes and kidneys. Symptoms include frequent urination, loss of bladder control and blood in the urine.<\/p>\n

Ketamine use can damage the bladder wall, causing ulceration and fibrosis, say experts. Photograph: Joe Bird\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Some of the children affected are using incontinence pads and urinating in buckets next to their bed at night due to bladder problems caused by addiction to ketamine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe damage caused by ketamine can be devastating,\u201d said Harriet Corbett, a consultant paediatric urologist at Alder Hey children\u2019s NHS foundation trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can affect the bladder wall, causing ulceration and fibrosis, and the effects can be irreversible. Young people<\/a> can experience chronic bladder pain and incontinence and, in the most severe cases, may go on to require major surgery or dialysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctors were being referred to a rising number of children with bladder symptoms caused by non-prescribed ketamine use, Corbett added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this first year of analysis has highlighted is the importance of understanding the young person behind the diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysis of the first patients to use the service shows some are as young as 13, with most being girls and most living in deprived areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy looking at factors such as age, where they live, their background and their life experiences, we can start to build a much clearer picture of who is being affected and how we can best support them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis problem is preventable. Understanding more about the young people who are presenting to us is an important step towards preventing further harm,\u201d Corbett said.<\/p>\n

Alder Hey children\u2019s hospital has opened the UK\u2019s first ketamine clinic for young people. Photograph: Mark Waugh\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Analysis of the clinic\u2019s first 60 patients by researchers at Alder Hey and Lancaster University showed their average age was 14, ranging from 13 to 15.<\/p>\n

About two-thirds were girls, and roughly the same proportion lived in the most deprived areas, according to the analysis published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood medical journal.<\/p>\n

Of the 60, 16 had autism or ADHD, or both. One in five had experience of the care system. Almost three-quarters (72%) had experienced emotional trauma during childhood.<\/p>\n

Prof Rachel Isba, a consultant in paediatric public health medicine at Alder Hey and professor emerita of children and young people\u2019s health at Lancaster University, said: \u201cOne of the most important things about this work is that we are trying to understand the wider picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cKetamine use does not happen in isolation, and our analysis is helping us explore the different factors that may be associated with young people developing serious health problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clinic at Alder Hey takes a \u201cnon-judgmental\u201d approach, Isba said. \u201cWe want to give young people a safe space to talk about what is happening in their lives and work with them to develop a plan to stop using ketamine and prevent further damage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children as young as 13 in the UK have been referred to a specialist clinic for a \u201cdevastating\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-779480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}