Authors: Abbas Aamer Fadel Paul J Clark Sharonda Victor Ronald G Vongpatanasin Wanpen
Publish Date: 2004/05/01
Volume: 17, Issue: S1, Pages: 81A-81A
Abstract
Aamer Abbas Paul J Fadel Sharonda Clark Ronald G Victor Wanpen Vongpatanasin P132 Chronic cocaine abuse as a cause of left ventricular hypertrophy American Journal of Hypertension Volume 17 Issue S1 May 2004 Page 81A https//doiorg/101016/jamjhyper200403206Previous echocardiographic studies have implicated the role of chronic cocaine abuse on development of left ventricular hypertrophy LVH However data from a larger epidemiological study in younger population with short duration of drug abuse failed to confirm this finding To resolve this controversy we compared the left ventricular mass LVM of longterm 10 years chronic cocaine abusers with LV mass from healthy controls subjects enrolled in the Dallas Heart Study matched for age gender and other factors known to influence LV mass using a highly sensitive cardiac magnetic resonance imaging MRI technique We enrolled 24 healthy normotensive chronic cocaine abusers from 3 drug rehabilitation centers with history of cocaine use as a drug of choice The average duration of cocaine use in the abuser group is 13 ± 1 years 81 control subjects matched for age gender body mass index BMI and ethnicity were identified from a random population sample of Dallas heart study Patients with history of diabetes mellitus chronic illnesses and using medications with cardiovascular actions were excluded from the study Cardiac MRI was used to measure LVM in all subjects The major new finding is that there is no significant difference in LVM LVM indexed by body surface or LVM indexed by height between chronic cocaine abuser group and normal control group 174 ± 8 vs 176 ± 4g 88 ± 3 vs 91 ± 2 g/m2 and 58 ± 3 vs 58 ± 1 g/m2 respectively p = NS Similarly we found no difference in aortic compliance between chronic cocaine abuser group and normal control group 290 ± 1 vs 304 ± 17 μl/mmHg p = NS Because both systolic and diastolic blood pressure BP were statistically higher in the control group 122 ± 1 / 79 ± 1 mmHg than in the cocaine abuser group 116 ± 2 / 75 ± 1mmHg p 005 we further classified all cocaine abusers and controls into a normotensive BP 120 / 80 mmHg and prehypertensive range BP 120–139 / 80–89 mmHg Despite comparable BP between normotensive cocaine abusers and normotensive controls and between prehypertensive abusers and prehypertensive controls there is still no significant difference in LVM and aortic compliance in all groups These new data from our study using Cardiac MRI provides a clear cut evidence for the lack of association between chronic cocaine abuse and increased LV mass or increased vascular stiffness
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