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The deleterious effects of drugs on health are well known. Nevertheless, scientists continue to study them. A team of researchers from the University of California in the United States has just discovered an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in users of cannabis, cocaine, heroin and also opiates.
Drugs, whether they are considered “soft” or “hard” or legal (like opiate medications) all have adverse health effects. They are nevertheless considered as such because some actually seem more destructive than others for the body.
A study of more than 23 million people
To study the effects of cannabis, cocaine, heroin and opiates on the cardiovascular system, researchers examined the risk of cardiac arrhythmias among users of these drugs.
They analyzed data from every hospital admission and every visit to outpatient surgical facilities and emergency departments in California from 2005 to 2015, collecting information from a total of 23 million people.
Only a fraction of the patients included in the study used drugs: 132,834 used cannabis, 98,271 used methamphetamine, 48,700 used cocaine and 10,032 used opiates.
The harder the drug, the greater the risk of fibrillation
Results: Cannabis users were 35% more likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation within the decade than non-users. The risks are even greater for people who use cocaine or heroin/opioids with respectively 61% and 74% risk of AF.
What is atrial fibrillation?
Atrial fibrillation is when the heart’s upper chambers, or atria, beat chaotically and out of sync with the heart’s lower chambers, or ventricles. Atrial fibrillation can lead to strokes, heart failure and other cardiovascular complications.
For the lead author of this work, Dr. Gregory Marcus, UCSF Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, whose findings were published in the European Heart Journal, “It is fascinating to consider that inhalants travel directly from the lungs to the pulmonary veins, which empty into the left atrium, and that the pulmonary veins and left atrium are particularly important in generating AF.”
Further studies are needed
Asked about this study, Dr William Lowenstein, internist and President of SOS Addictions welcomes this work: “It is a voluminous study, very interesting because it concerns both the cardiovascular risks of legal drugs (opioids) and those of illegal substances. This is a necessary first step to general information: it is not because a substance is prohibited that it is not necessary to study its physical risks, inform users and consider risk reduction strategies. “.
It brings a downside, however. For him, “the lack of details in this study on the doses responsible for AF or the frequency of consumption (occasional or chronic, in particular for cocaine) requires additional studies to develop risk reduction strategies”.