Does cocaine trigger heart attacks? What the Harvard onset study found
- Claim
- COCAINE TRIGGERS HEART ATTACKS?
- Catch
- SMALL STUDY
- Verdict
- REAL SPIKE, NOT A VERDICT
Cocaine is often blamed for triggering heart attacks. A case-control (case-crossover) study from the Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study, published in Circulation in 1999, interviewed 3,946 people who had an acute myocardial infarction about cocaine use in the hour before symptoms began. Nine reported cocaine use within the preceding 60 minutes, and 38 (1%) reported use in the prior year. The risk of heart-attack onset was about 23.7 times baseline (95% CI 8.5 to 66.3) in the 60 minutes after cocaine use, then rapidly decreased. Cocaine users were younger on average (44 vs 61 years), more often male, current cigarette smokers, and minority group members.
The catch: this measures an immediate, transient trigger, not the long-term risk of occasional cocaine use. The exposed group was small (nine people), exposure was recalled days after the event, and users differed from non-users in age, smoking, and demographics — so the study cannot prove cocaine caused each attack. Talk to a doctor about stimulant use and heart health.
SOURCES
- Mittleman MA, Mintzer D, Maclure M, Tofler GH, Sherwood JB, Muller JE. "Triggering of myocardial infarction by cocaine." Circulation. 1999 Jun 1;99(21):2737-2741. DOI: 10.1161/01.cir.99.21.2737. PMID: 10351966.
For information only, not medical advice. Talk to a qualified health professional before changing your diet, supplements or treatment.
