The use of methamphetamines, cocaine, opiates or marijuana is associated with an elevated risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation (AFib), according to new research out of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
A separate analysis, also out of UCSF, found that acute alcohol consumption can also lead to new-onset AFib.
The findings from both studies are scheduled to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2021.
For the first study, researchers analyzed data from 23.5 million adult inpatient hospitalizations in California from 2005 to 2015. This included 98,271 cases related to methamphetamine use, 48,700 cases related to cocaine use, 10,032 cases related to opiate use and 132,834 cases related to cannabis use.
When compared to data from patients who did not take any of the four substances, researchers found that methamphetamine users faced an 86% greater risk of being diagnosed with AFib. Similar jumps were also seen among cocaine users (61%), opiate users (74%) and cannabis users (35%).
The authors also noted that the likelihood of people experiencing AFib for the first time rose steadily over time with each of the four substances. In addition, older patients who used these drugs were more likely to develop new-onset AFib than younger patients.
“Our findings indicate there is still a lot to understand about cardiac arrhythmia and the associated risks with many substances,” lead author Anthony Lin, MD, a resident physician at UCSF’s department of medicine, said in a prepared statement. “Since the substances analyzed in this study ranged from stimulants to depressants, it was surprising that we were able to observe an increased association of new-onset AFib with all four substances. Given the strong associations we observed in this large and diverse administrative database, future research should be directed at understanding the physiologic implications of these stimulants and depressants on the heart and strengthening efforts within the health care system to reduce substance abuse disorder."
Alcohol & AFib
In the separate study focused on alcohol, researchers analyzed data from commercial breathalyzer devices from people in 50 U.S. states and 59 countries, as well as records for emergency department (ED) visits in California from 2014 to 2016.
The authors identified events when acute alcohol intake was at its highest such as certain holidays and then examined AFib data around the time of those events.
Overall, alcohol consumption was associated with 719 more ED visits for AFib per 100,000 person-years.
“While we know that alcohol consumption over many years can increase the risk of an ultimate diagnosis of AFib, we found evidence that acute alcohol consumption substantially heightens the risk of an ED visit for AFib in the general population,” lead author Sidney Aung, BA., a fourth-year medical student in the division of cardiology at UCSF, said in the same prepared statement.
More information on AHA Scientific Sessions 2021 can be found here.