New research indicates that patients with a recent history of recreational drug use are three times more likely than those without to have a repeat serious cardiovascular event within one year. The research was presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s Congress 2024 in London, UK.
Previous research indicates that a recent history of recreational drug use is linked to a higher rate of in-hospital outcomes. Until now, however, the long-term cardiovascular consequences of recreational drug use have remained unknown. In the current study, researchers assessed the prognostic effect of recreational drug use among patients admitted to intensive cardiac care units (ICCUs) at a one-year follow-up.
To do so, they analyzed data from 1392 patients admitted to (ICCU’s) over two weeks in April 2021 at 39 centres in France. Patients were an average age of 63 years old, and 70% were male. Recreational drug screening was performed via urinary tests. One-year follow-ups comprised of a clinical visit or direct contact with the patient and the referring cariologist.
Altogether, 157- or 11%- of patients had an initial positive test for recreational drug use. Cannabis was the most common drug used, with a total of 136 participants receiving positive results in their urine, followed by 32 people for heroin and other opioids, 23 people for cocaine, 9 people for amphetamines, and 9 people for MDMA. A total of 45 patients tested positive for two or more of these drugs.
After a year, the researchers found that 94 patients from the total cohort experienced a serious cardiovascular event, including death. Patients who tested positive for recreational drug use had a significantly higher rate of serious cardiovascular events than non-users: 13% of drug users compared to 6% of non-users. After adjusting for factors including a history of cardiovascular disease before hospitalization, history of cancer, and current smoking status, recreational drug use was linked to a three times higher risk of serious cardiovascular events.
Concerning drug types, MDMA was linked to a 4.1 times higher risk of serious cardiovascular events, heroin, and other opioids a 3.6 times higher risk, and cannabis a 1.8 times higher risk. Other drug types did not have a statistically significant relationship with serious cardiovascular events.
“ln a large cohort of consecutive patients admitted to intensive care cardiac units for acute cardiovascular events, the prevalence of recreational drug use was 11%. Recreational drug use was associated with a tripling of the risk of a repeat serious cardiovascular event within one-year,” said study author Dr Raphael Mirailles, from Hospital Lariboisiere, Paris, France, in a press release.
“There is an increasing amount of data regarding worst prognosis associated with recreational drug use, not only in cardiac intensive care units but also in conventional intensive care units. Despite high rate of underreporting of recreational drug use, systematic screening is not recommended by the current guidelines. It might improve risk stratification of patients and personalized care to favor drug withdrawal. Therefore, systemic screening should be considered in intensive care,” he concluded.
Sources: EurekAlert, NY Post