Citation
(2008), "Coke strokes and heart attacks on the rise", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 38 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2008.01738fab.039
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Coke strokes and heart attacks on the rise
Article Type: Food facts June 2008 From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 38, Issue 6.
Newspaper headlines about a youth-fuelled binge-drinking epidemic may shock readers up and down the country, but a quieter yet equally worrying crisis is also taking place among the dinner partying urban middle classes.
According to a report earlier this year in Druglink magazine, the number of people admitted to hospital for cocaine overdoses rose by 400 per cent in 2007 compared with figures from 1998-1999. With 740 people taken to UK hospitals for cocaine-related emergencies last year, that equates to more than two people admitted a day. The figures also show that 85 per cent of patients admitted to hospital for cocaine poisoning were men, and that the average age of the patient is 29. One hospital namely St Thomas's in Lambeth, south London is reported to have treated no less than 121 patients for cocaine-related emergencies in the second half of last year alone. Regular cocaine use may also be responsible for up to 25 per cent of heart attacks in people under the age of 30, suggests a recent report published in the Medical Journal Circulation. According to the authors, who wrote the report on behalf of the American Heart Association, there has been a 47 per cent rise in the number of 35-44-year-olds visiting US emergency departments for chest pain following cocaine use since 1995.
Cocaine use in young, healthy people, states the AHA, can cause heart attack symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, palpitations, dizziness, nausea, heavy sweating, high blood pressure and palpitations. Indeed, as reported recently by the Sunday Times, A&E departments at British hospitals are seeing more admissions for cocaine-induced heart attacks and strokes dubbed “cocaine toxic” or “coke strokes” in recent years.
To find out more, visit www.cygnethealth.co.uk.