Cocaine and Increased Risk of Heart Attacks

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Cocaine and Crack

Cocaine and Increased Risk of Heart Attacks

Heart attack. stroke and cardiovascular failure are connected to Cocaine use. Cocaine use increases the risk of sudden heart attack and may

also trigger stroke, even in users who otherwise are not at high risk for these sometimes fatal cardiovascular events. The risk is related to narrowing of blood vessels and increases in blood pressure and heart rate. Recently, NIDA-supported researchers at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, have identified changes in blood components that may also play a role in cocaine-related heart attack and stroke.

Dr. Arthur Siegel and his colleagues studied the effect of cocaine on blood factors that respond to inflammation by promoting clotting to initiate repair. They found that a component that promotes clotting--von Willebrand factor (vWF)--increases and remains elevated for hours after a single exposure to cocaine. They also found that, compared with less frequent users, heavy users of cocaine have elevated levels of vWF, fibrinogen (a clotting factor), and C-reactive protein (CRP), a blood protein that increases in concentration in response to inflammation and is a reliable indicator of risk for heart attack.

"These findings suggest that cocaine creates a temporary risk for heart attack or stroke by increasing clotting factors," Dr. Siegel explains. "Elevated CRP levels could indicate that long-term use of the drug is triggering inflammation in the cardiovascular system."

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Definitions of Terms Used

Term	Description
Alcohol	Refers to ethyl alcohol or ethanol.
Cocaine	A highly addictive stimulant drug derived from the cocoa plant that produces feelings of euphoria. Also see Crack.
Drug	Any substance, other than food, that changes the function or structure of the body or mind when ingested. Drugs essentially are poisons. The degree they are taken determines the effect. A small amount acts as a stimulant. A greater amount acts as a sedative. A larger amount acts as a poison and can kill one dead. This is true of any drug. Each has a different amount at which it gives those results.