Clinical News

Cannabis tied to severe heart attack risk in younger adults

Teens and young adults who use cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis are more likely to be hospitalized for heart attacks by early adulthood than their counterparts who don’t use these drugs, a recent study suggests.

Researchers examined data from 2010-2014 on 1,694 patients ages 15 to 22 who were hospitalized for heart attacks, plus almost 9.4 million patients this age who were hospitalized for other reasons. Overall, the risk of a heart attack hospitalization was 3.9 times higher for cocaine users, 2.3 times higher for amphetamine users, and 30% higher for cannabis users than for non-users of these drugs… (Reuters, November 26, 2019)