255184

PREVALENCE AND EVALUATION OF CARDIAC COMPLICATIONS AMONG PATIENTS WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN AL HUSSEIN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

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Tags

Medicine

Abstract

Background: Substance abuse refers to excessive use of a drug in a way that is detrimental to self, society, or both. Substance abuse and its health outcomes has become a major public health issue in Egypt in recent years. Objective: To determine the prevalence of electrocardiographic and echocardiographic abnormalities among substance abusers who have low cardiovascular risk profile and evaluate the relation between these abnormalities and substance abuse. Patients and Methods: This case–control study was conducted at Al-Hussein University Hospital from January 2018 to May 2020. It included 500 males and females cases aged between 18 and 45 years. They were divided into 2 major groups: Group I contained 250 substance abusers with duration of abuse ≥ one year and Group II contained 250 non abusers as controls. All members of both groups had low cardiovascular risk profile. The only major risk factor for heart disease presented in this study was smoking cigarette and its effect was ameliorated by matching with the control group. All cases were subjected to a full history taking, comprehensive clinical examination and laboratory investigations to exclude cases with major risk factors for heart diseases. Cardiac condition was evaluated in all cases using standard 12-lead electrocardiogram and the results were interpreted. Further evaluation using echocardiography examination were done for all patients with abnormal ECG findings in addition to 42 cases selected randomly from control group for statistical purposes, and divided into 2 sub-groups. Sub-group I included 54 patients who had abnormal ECG findings in group I, Sub-group II included 54 cases (12 patients who had abnormal ECG findings + 42 cases selected randomly) from group II. Results: There was significantly higher prevalence of ECG and echocardiographic abnormalities among substance abusers (p < 0.05) in comparison to non-abusers. The most common abnormality detected in substance abusers was QT interval prolongation (6.4%), while the most common echocardiographic abnormality detected was diastolic dysfunction (25.9%). All of abused substances detected in our study (cannabis, tramadol, heroin, alcohol and strox), except benzodiazepines, had significant relation with the abnormal ECG findings. Further analysis for factors related to abnormal ECG findings showed that the increase in duration of abuse, tramadol abuse and heroin abuse were significantly associated with the odds of abnormal ECG findings. Conclusion: ECG and Echocardiographic abnormalities have significant prevalence among substance abusers, especially those with multiple substance abuses, despite of their low cardiovascular risk profile. Long duration of abuse, heroin abuse and tramadol abuse were considered risk factors for abnormal ECG findings.

DOI

10.21608/amj.2022.255184

Keywords

Substance abuse, cannabis, tramadol, Heoin, Alcohol, Strox, Benzodiazepines, Cardiac complication, ECG abnormalities, low cardiovascular risk

Authors

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Badr Yacoub Salem

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Departments of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Al-Azhar Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt

Email

ahmedbadr200@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Magdy

Last Name

Abd El-Hay Ismail

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Departments of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Al-Azhar Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ali

Last Name

Abd El-Fattah Ali Elnabawy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Departments of Psychiatry, Al-Azhar Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Gamal

Last Name

El-Deen I. A. Biomy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Departments of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Al-Azhar Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Mohammed Salah El-Din Ahmed

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Departments of Cardiology, Al-Azhar Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

51

Article Issue

4

Related Issue

36242

Issue Date

2022-08-01

Receive Date

2022-08-17

Publish Date

2022-08-01

Page Start

1,945

Page End

1,962

Print ISSN

1110-0400

Link

https://amj.journals.ekb.eg/article_255184.html

Detail API

https://amj.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=255184

Order

8

Type

Original Article

Type Code

941

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Al-Azhar Medical Journal

Publication Link

https://amj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

PREVALENCE AND EVALUATION OF CARDIAC COMPLICATIONS AMONG PATIENTS WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN AL HUSSEIN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

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Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023