Cocaine and heart-attacks

[Ringo]

In the UK at the moment, there's a series of adverts and campaigns claiming that "Cocaine increases your risk of having a heart attack by 80 times".

I'm trying to figure out what that statement means, and how to get it in context.

Could that mean that, say if your risk of heart attack on any given night is 0.0000000001%, then taking cocaine on that night would increase it to 0.0000000080%?

Is that due to the heart naturally beating faster when stimulants are in the bloodstream, or is there some other, more damaging quality of cocaine that causes this?

How does all this compare with say, a cup of coffee? Although cocaine releases dopamines in the brain for that rush, I'm not so sure your heart would beat _that_ much faster from a line of cocaine or a triple shot latte.

Does anyone have any opinions, information, or better, medical knowledge about this? While I'd never imagine out goverments "War on Drugs" exagerated or distorted anything in any way, [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] , "Increasing your risk of heart attack by 80 times" is quite a bold and attention grabbing statement. Oh, and no - I don't do, don't intend to do, and never have taken cocaine. I'm just curious as to the reality of this statement.

Ringo

[Tony_P]

I don't know man, but coke definatly increases your heart rate. I'm not exactly the pinnacle of health, and had serios heart palpitations from speed, so I've avoided both in the past couple of years.

[MINETZ]

cocains a helluv a drug.

[Blarg]

Does increase your heart rate and blood pressure at the same time, if I recall correctly. Neither of those is good, but both in combination must be a lot worse.

[dibbs]

Some seemingly unthorough (but what do I know) studies:

http://cocaine.org/blood-pressure/

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/cont...c0902.104714v1

I don't believe either of those studies translates to 80%, but kind of interesting anyways.

[dizong]

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

[Riddick]

cocaine is probably not good for you, but I'm not a doctor.

[rbenuck4]

Cocaine works very differently than caffeine. Cocaine basically affects the reuptake of norepinephrine (which directly increases your heart rate). So in other words, the Norepinephrine stays in your system for longer and thus works overtime.

Caffeine on the other hand, is a stimulant (and a minor one at that). It acts primarily by blocking adenosine receptors (adenosine is responsible for , bradycaardia, hypotension, hypothermia, and attenuation fo the responses of the heart, etc... Caffeine has other affects as well, but this is the main one physiologically.

Anyway, long story short, cocaine is MUCH worse for you than a huge load of caffeine.

[vexvelour]

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I'm not so sure your heart would beat _that_ much faster from a line of cocaine or a triple shot latte.


[/ QUOTE ]

Have you ever done coke for an extended period of time, say, longer than a few hours? Its a little different than drinking a latte.

[Leaky Eye]

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

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Well it could be derived from actuarial tables of some specific demographic. Like the % of young men who die of a heart attack vs the % of cocaine using young men. The % of cocaine users in the population of young men could also be selectively chosen. They could easily back this up with some statistics. Or just make it up to scare people. That works too.