Health Information - Using Cocaine Repeatedly May Increase Risk of Heart Attack

Using Cocaine Repeatedly May Increase Risk of Heart Attack

Researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, reviewed previous surveys of young adults regarding their usage of cocaine and overall heart health. The result of the survey showed young adults who used cocaine more than 10 times during their entire lifetime were 4 times more likely to experience a Heart attack.

The age range studied in the research ranged between 18 years of age and 59 years of age. Of this group, 10% of the participants between the ages of 18 and 45 who had experienced a cardiac event reported a history of repeated cocaine usage.

The results of this research led the AHA (American Heart Association) to advise the medical community of the possible link between abnormal cardiac events in young adults and previous cocaine usage.

The findings were pulled from the 3rd National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). From 1988 until 1994, more than 12,000 participants filled out surveys about their nutritional health and body health. Approximately 500 participants, or 4.6%, reported repeated use of cocaine.

The risk of heart attack among the group of participants who had used cocaine previously, but were not current users were 3 times higher than those who had never used cocaine. Participants who were actively using cocaine showed a risk 4 times higher.