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Amphetamine Related Heart Attacks Increase In Lone Star State

Amphetamine abuse is a global problem, with estimates of 35 million people worldwide abusing amphetamine-type stimulants in 2004. Closer to home, the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported 19.1 million Americans had used an illicit or prescription-type stimulant non-medically at least once in their lifetimes. Reports in 2007 indicate that methamphetamine abuse may be on the increase in some major metropolitan U.S. cities. While cocaine is recognized as a contributor to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) no population-based studies have looked at an association between amphetamine abuse and heart attacks. This Texas study looked at patients hospitalized for amphetamine abuse to see if they were more likely to have an AMI, and if this association differed by public-health regions in the state.

Researchers examined 3,148,165 discharges during 2000-2003 from Texas hospitals covered by a state quality-of-care reporting law. They identified 11,011 AMIs among persons aged 18 – 44 years of age while controlling for well-established risk factors for AMI such as cocaine abuse, alcohol abuse, tobacco use, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, lipid disorders, obesity, congenital defects, and coagulation defects.

Results showed that not only was amphetamine abuse modestly but significantly associated with AMI, but also that the rate of AMIs among amphetamine abusers increased significantly from 2000 to 2003. The data indicated that amphetamine abuse was responsible for 0.2 percent of AMIs in the state of Texas, varying by region, with prevalence highest in the North Texas and Panhandle regions of Texas.

(Westover, AN, Nakonezny, PA, Haley, RW: Acute myocardial infarction in young adults who abuse amphetamines. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 96:49-56, 2008.)

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