[Acute coronary syndrome and cocaine]

Cocaine is directly related to the occurrence of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). We analyzed the differential characteristics of consumers who suffer an ACS in our environment.A retrospective study of 914 patients with ACS who entered consecutively to our hospital.Thirty four patients were consumers (3.7%, CI95%: 2.7-5.2), with an average age of 40.1+/-9.1 years, significantly lower than non-consumers (63.6+/-12.15 years, P.001). The prevalence increased progressively in younger groups. Most were men (82.4%), with higher consumption of tobacco (88.2% vs. 34.2%, P.001) and other illegal drugs (35.3% vs 0.9%, P.001). By contrast, they had less frequently hypertension (26.5 vs. 60.5%, P.001) or diabetes (11.7 vs. 39.8%, P.001). There was single vessel disease in 44.1%, and a coronary angiography without significant lesions in 20.6% cases.The typical patient with ACS who consumes cocaine is usually a young man, who often takes other drugs and with a lower prevalence of classic risk factors. These data have to be taken into account when considering preventive and therapeutic manoeuvres.