MedWire News: Young people who use drugs called amphetamines face an increased risk of suffering heart attacks, US researchers warn.
Amphetamines are stimulants that are sometimes used to treat people with medical conditions such as attention –deficit/hyperactivity disorder. However, they are often illegally abused as recreational drugs or performance enhancers.
“Most people aren’t surprised that amphetamines and methamphetamines are bad for your health,” said lead researcher Dr Arthur Westover, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “But we are concerned because heart attacks in the young are rare and can be very debilitating or deadly.”
Dr Westover and team studied data on more than 11,000 people, aged 18– 44 years, who were treated for heart attacks in 434 Texan hospitals between 2000 and 2003.
After accounting for other heart attack risk factors, such as tobacco use, high cholesterol, obesity, heart defects and alcohol abuse, the team found that amphetamine abuse was associated with a 1.6-fold increased risk of heart attacks.
The team says that amphetamines may cause heart attacks by increasing blood pressure and heart rates, and causing inflammation and artery spasms.
Further analysis revealed that amphetamine abuse may have accounted for 0.2% of heart attacks in the state of Texas over the period studied.
“We’re talking about a state that is near the middle of prevalence of amphetamine use in the USA, so it’s possible that the number of heart attacks in young adults in other states with a much higher prevalence of amphetamine abuse may be higher,” said Dr Westover.
Commenting on the findings, co-researcher Dr Robert Haley, also from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, concluded: “This paper sounds a warning to amphetamine abusers, alerts emergency department personnel to look for amphetamine abuse in young heart attack patients and it allows us to focus preventive efforts in geographical areas where the problems are greatest.”
The research is published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.