Cocaine and heart-attacks

[ThinkQuick]

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Cocaine can cause coronary vasospasm which can reduce blood flow to parts of the heart. This alone may or may not cause a heart attack but the additional effects of increased heart rate and blood pressure leading to increased cardiac demand can further worsen the situation in the setting of cocaine intoxication (i.e., the heart is working too hard for the bloodflow that it is receiving). Long-term cocaine use has been associated with early atherosclerosis and heart failure. Finally, you're probably more prone to arrhythmias in the setting of active heart damage and excessively stimulated state.

I don't know from where the 80-fold increased risk of heart attack figure is derived.

dizong

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Well I think you covered a great deal here.

With many of these adverse effects, prolonged and repeated exposure wil dramatically increase your 'risk for a cardiovascular event'.

These risks are based on epidemiological studies where you would compare how many (probably chronic) cocaine users get heart attacks over a certain period of time compared to the overall incidence rate or incidence in healthy people over that same period of time.

The ad campaign is saying that stressing your cardiovascular system with cocaine can lead to dramatically increased risks of cardiovascular damage and disease down the road. This is similar to smoking cigarretes.

www.heartstats.org says:
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The incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) or heart attack varies around the UK, but on average the incidence rate for men aged between 30 and 69 is about 600 per 100,000 and for women is about 200 per 100,000.

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So the chance of a man having a heart attack between 30 and 69 is about 6/1000 = 0.6%. I have a great deal of trouble believing that a stat like this is 80x greater in cocaine users.

One explanation for the 80x stat may be that during late life, because of damage done to the heart and vasculature, cocaine users are far more likely to die of / experience myocardial infarcts rather than dying of cancer, etc.

Another one is that cocaine makes you live 20 years longer, and if you live longer you're more likely to get a heart attack.

The ad dosen't seem to distinguish which one is more likely. ...

look for a reference on one the next time you see it and post it.