A study developed by the University of Seville and the Virgen Macarena University Hospital in Seville (Spain) has concluded that people who consume cocaine are up to three times more likely to suffer a heart attack than people who do not take this substance.
The researchers analyzed the clinical data of 5,475,325 patients older than 18 years , who had been admitted between 2008 and 2010. Of all the people admitted, 24,126 patients were dependent on or abused cocaine, adding up to a total of 79,076 cases of acute heart attack. of myocardium, which represents more than triple the number of infarcts per patient.
Specifically, according to the conclusions of the study, the age group of 35 and 44 years has twice the risk of suffering a heart attack than among people who do not consume this drug; in the 45 to 54 age group, the risk triples and in the 55 to 64 age group it is five times higher .
" After prolonged use of cocaine, many acute disorders can occur and chronic lesions appear , including toxic heart disease, which worsen the prognosis of these patients," says Miguel Gili Miner, leader of the study.
The study, which has been published in the Spanish Journal of Cardiology (REC), explains that cocaine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system by increasing its sensitivity to norepinephrine and thus increasing the concentration of adrenaline up to 5 times more than normal levels, favoring, among other things, coronary thrombosis and favoring platelet aggregation.
