Marijuana use in acute coronary syndromes.

BACKGROUND: Cannabis is one of the most widely used illicit substances worldwide, and it has the highest prevalence among drugs used in Egypt.

OBJECTIVES: The aims were to evaluate whether the use of cannabis is a risk factor of acute coronary heart disease in low-risk, young males and to compare the cardiac pathological changes between cannabis exposed and non-exposed ischemic patients.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study that was performed on 138 male patients, aged ≤ 40 years, with acute myocardial infarction who were admitted to the Cardiac Care Unit at the University Hospital. Urine samples were submitted for toxicological analysis using a homogenous enzyme immunoassay technique to determine the substance of use. The patients were divided into three groups: group 1 (n = 23), cannabis-positive only patients; group 2 (n = 28), patients positive for any other substance of use; and group 3 (n = 34), patients negative for any substance of use.

RESULTS: Smoking was prominent, whereas group 1 had no other risk factors. In groups 1 and 2, ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) was dominant, whereas no ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) was prominent in group 3. Ischemic resting wall motion abnormalities were presented in 47.8% of group 1 and in only 11.8% of group 3. None of group 1 had normal coronaries, whereas 14.3% of group 3 had normal coronaries. Significant changes in echocardiography and angiography were observed between group 1 and other groups.

CONCLUSION: Cannabis smoking could be a potential risk factor for the development of cardiac ischemia.