Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily decipher today in It’s my health a large American study which reveals that the consumption of certain drugs drastically increases the risk of atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder in the world.
franceinfo: First of all, what is atrial fibrillation?
Martin Ducret: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a racing heartbeat that then becomes anarchic and irregular. It is a common disorder that can be felt by the patient in the form of palpitations for example, or go completely unnoticed.
Its main complication is the occurrence of a stroke. In case of AF, the risk of having a stroke is multiplied by 5. Age is the first risk factor for AF, but there are many others, such as high blood pressure, obesity or smoking. and excessive alcohol consumption.
What does this study tell us?
This American study reveals that the risk of atrial fibrillation is clearly increased by the consumption of illicit drugs – cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine (it is a psychostimulant drug) – or by the use of opiate drugs which are prescribed by prescription (such as tramadol or morphine).
To arrive at these conclusions, the authors peeled the medical data of more than 23 million Americans over a period of 10 years. In this panel of patients, the risk of developing atrial fibrillation was increased by 35% in the event of cannabis consumption, and by 60 to 80% for the three other substances.
For Professor William Lowenstein, addictologist and president of SOS addiction, “This study is remarkable because it looks, without distinction, at the effects of legal substances, prescription opioids, and illegal drugs whose consequences have been much less studied to date.”
Is the risk of atrial fibrillation dependent on the dose of consumption of these drugs?
The study does not tell us, and this is one of its limitations. The authors point out that the results cannot be extrapolated to patients who rarely consume these substances. But they do not specify at what stage consumption is considered frequent.
This point obviously remains to be clarified, knowing that the occasional use of certain drugs, a single dose of cocaine for example, can have serious effects on the cardiovascular system, such as the occurrence of a heart attack. Other studies are therefore necessary to assess at what dose, frequency of consumption and route of administration, each of these substances induces a risk of atrial fibrillation.