Author Interviews, Cocaine, Heart Disease / 17.12.2014
Cocaine Chief Cause of Cardiovascular Death In Young People
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Luis F. Callado M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Pharmacology
University of the Basque Country
CIBERSAM
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Callado: Cocaine is the most commonly used illicit stimulant drug in Europe. The use of cocaine has become a major issue for drug policy, with also important health implications, including potentially lethal cardiovascular complications. In this way, several case series have suggested a relationship between cocaine use and cardiovascular diseases in young adults. Furthermore, cocaine use has been also associated with sudden and unexpected death.
Our results demonstrate that the recent use of cocaine is the main risk factor for sudden cardiovascular death in persons between 15 and 49 years old. Thus, persons that consumed cocaine recently presented a 4 times higher risk for sudden cardiovascular death than those who did not use cocaine. The morphological substrate of sudden cardiovascular death associated to cocaine use is a structural pathology not diagnosed in life. Usually, sudden death is the first manifestation of the disease.
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