Cocaine, Cannabis Use Significantly Increased Cardiovascular Events
In posters presented at the Heart Failure Society of America 2024 Annual Meeting, researchers assessed how substance use disorders impact cardiovascular outcomes.
Both cocaine and cannabis use were associated with increased cardiovascular complications, especially myocardial infarction (MI). Researchers also identified higher in-hospital mortality rates amongst patients that used cannabis, with longer symptom resolution times also leading to higher mortality, according to data from posters presented at the Heart Failure Society of America 2024 Annual Meeting.1,2
“The cardiovascular effects of cocaine have been well-documented over the years. It remains a persistent challenge with limited data on curbing the menace and decreasing the burden of cardiovascular complications among heart failure (HF) patients with cocaine use disorder,” wrote the authors.1
Cocaine and cannabis use were associated with increased mortality rates and cardiovascular events. | image credit: Tommaso / stock.adobe.com
Beginning with the effects cocaine use has on cardiovascular outcomes for patients with HF, researchers explored trends from 2016 to 2020. Their hypothesis was to discover a significant increase of cocaine use over the 5-year period, with rising rates of hospitalizations, cardiovascular events, and mortality.
They included a total of 1,372,419 patients (mean age, 53) with HF and 18,295 (1.3%) had cocaine use disorder. Assessing the year-to-year trends of cocaine use across the cohort, rates consistently increased from 2016 to 2018, dropped minimally from 2018 to 2019, and increased yet again in 2020. “The annual rates of cocaine use disorder among patients with [HF] from 2016 to 2020 are as follows: 1.19% in 2016, 1.29% in 2017, 1.67% in 2018, 1.66% in 2019, and 1.77% in 2020,” they continued.1
There was a significant increase in overall cardiovascular events throughout the study period, but they were mainly identified within ventricular arrhythmia, cardiogenic shock, and MI. Researchers suggest more research and initiatives be enacted in order to curb the menace of cocaine use disorder and its impact on cardiovascular complications.
In the poster assessing cannabis use disorder, however, researchers did not solely focus on HF patients, rather they identified cases where patients reported both cannabis use and vascular, cardiovascular, or cerebrovascular diseases, with participants being placed into separate cohorts for each disease respectively.2
A significantly smaller sample than that of the poster exploring cocaine use, this study included 110 cases (mean age, 35.3; 77.3% men) of patients reporting both cannabis use and vascular, cardiovascular, or cerebrovascular diseases. Among 110 cases, 31.9% presented with chest pain while 46.4% were subsequently diagnosed with MI.
Regarding the extent of cannabis use among these patients, 60.8% reported that they used cannabis within the past 24 hours and 62.1% reported daily consumption. “Patients with cannabis use were more likely to present with [MI], however, arteritis was observed to result in in-hospital mortality. Longer resolution time of symptoms was also associated with higher rates of mortality. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings,” wrote the authors.2
Among patients who have experienced HF or not, researchers’ findings support the claim that both cannabis and cocaine use can be detrimental to cardiovascular health. While researchers did not explore the effects of cannabis use on HF patients, they presented enough evidence to advise patients with HF, or any cardiovascular diseases, to avoid developing any type of substance use disorders.1,2
“As the annual rate of cocaine use disorder in [HF] patients increased over the years, the rate of cardiovascular complications—mainly ventricular arrhythmia, cardiogenic shock, and myocardial infarction—also increased and became statistically significant indicating a higher burden of cardiovascular outcomes in [HF] patients with cocaine use disorder giving justification for more work to be done to curb the menace,” concluded the authors.1
Click here for more coverage of the Heart Failure Society of America 2024 Annual Meeting.
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