Cocaine and Amphetamine Abuse Increases Stroke Risk

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MONDAY, April 9 2007 (HealthDay News) -- The abuse of stimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines may increase the risk of stroke by raising blood pressure or triggering spasms in blood vessel walls that contribute to the narrowing of the vessels, a U.S. study says.

Researchers analyzed data on patients treated for stroke or drug abuse at Texas hospitals between 2000 and 2003. They concluded that amphetamine abuse was associated with a fivefold increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain), but not ischemic stroke (blocked blood flow to the brain).

They also found that cocaine was associated with a greater than twofold increased risk of both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke.

In addition, amphetamine abuse, but not cocaine use, was associated with a higher risk of death after hemorrhagic stroke, the study authors said.

"The public health implications of these findings are heightened by growing news accounts suggesting a recent increase in methamphetamine abuse, particularly in the southwestern, western and Midwestern states," they wrote.

"This concern was supported by our finding that, among hospitalized patients in Texas from 2000 to 2003, the rate of amphetamine abuse was increasing faster than that of any other drug, including cocaine, and the rate of strokes among amphetamine abusers was increasing faster than the rate of strokes among abusers of any other drug."

The study is in the April issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.