Most people know that cocaine use is bad for one's health, but what people might not know is just how bad. A new study is reporting that cocaine can increases one's risk of stroke by six-fold every single time a person uses it.
Researchers headed by senior author Dr. Steven J. Kittner of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System in Baltimore compared statistics that were gathered by a previous population-based study. The study, which took place from 1992 to 2008, involved 1,090 cases of ischemic stroke and 1,152 control cases in people who were between the ages of 15 and 49. An ischemic stroke occurs when there is a blockage, most likely in the form of a blood clot that prevents blood from flowing in a vessel and toward the brain.
The researchers compared data on the participants' recreational and medical drug use. They found that people who had a stroke were more likely to be tobacco users than the people who did not have one. The stroke group also included more people with a history of diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure). These health conditions have been identified as risk factors for stroke.
When the research team looked at cocaine use specifically, it found that history of use was pretty much the same in both groups: 28 percent in the stroke group and 26 percent in the control group. The researchers only noticed a difference in the effect of cocaine use when they factored in time. People who reported using cocaine on the previous day of a stroke event were six times more likely to have a stroke than people who never used the drug. Those who used crack cocaine were eight times more likely to have a stroke.
The researchers explained that cocaine can be increasing stroke risk at the time of use because the drug causes a rapid spike in blood pressure levels and can lead to cardiac problems.
By understanding how drug use can affect stroke risk in young people in particular, the researchers hope that more preventive measures could be enforced. Dr. Antonio Siniscalci of the Annunziata Hospital in Italy commented that this study's findings could be important for clinical practice.
"It is reasonable to screen young patients, particularly men, for drug use when they present with cryptogenic stroke," said Siniscalci, who was not involved with the research.
A cryptogenic stroke is a stroke that has no apparent origin or cause.
The study was published in the March 10 issue of the journal Stroke.
