Illicit drug use in very young patients with acute myocardial infarction: temporal trends from a nationwide hospital medical information database

• Published in: European heart journal Vol. 44; no. Supplement_2
• Main Authors: Cottin, Y, Bentounes, S, Genet, T, Vigny, P, Zeller, M, Fauchier, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 09.11.2023
• ISSN: 0195-668X; 1522-9645
• DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad655.1236

Abstract Introduction Illicit drug use, including cannabis, opioid and cocaine, which has been associated with increased risk of acute myocardial infarction (MI), has dramatically increase in young European people over the last decade. Aim From a French administrative database, we aimed to examine the rate and temporal trend in illicit drugs use in younger patients hospitalized for an acute MI between 2010 and 2022. Methods From a nationwide medical information system, all adult patients hospitalized for acute MI in the 1546 French healthcare facilities from the 1st January 2010 to 31st December 2022 were included in the analyse. Rate of Illicit drug use was compared in very young patients (18 to 25 y) vs older (>25y) patients. Results Over the 12y study period, 1,011,706 patients were analyzed. The percentage of very young patients remains stable from 2010 to 2022 (0.12% to 0.13%). When compared with older (≥25y), illicit drug use was much more frequent in very young patients, and showed a huge increase, by ≈50%, in drug use over the period (9.7% to 14.9%) (Figure). The rate of drug also increased in older (0.3% to 1.1%). Meanwhile, the prevalence of smoking remains stable in very young (33.1% to 32.2%). Early CV mortality was low in very young, especially in recent years (3.7% to 0.8%). Conclusion This large nationwide observational study reports an alarming increase rate of illicit drug among patients with acute MI over the last years. Very young adults (<25y) are particularly at risk, suggesting the need for systematical screening and urinary toxic identification.Trends in illicit drug use