Survey of the Effect of Opioid Abuse on the Extent of Coronary Artery Diseases

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in our country. Recently, it has been found that the use of opium like other risk factors can be an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease. Therefore, this study examines the impact of opioid abuse on the extent of coronary artery diseases. METHODS: This study included 1170 individuals, who underwent coronary angiography in Seyed-ol-shohada and Taleghani hospitals, Urmia in 2012, were enrolled. The demographic data included age, sex, medical history, including history of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and a history of opioid abuse and duration of smoking were extracted and entered in a questionnaire. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that 121 had taken opium and 1049 patients had not taken the drug. The results of this study showed that coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with drug use (88.5%) was significantly higher than the group without drug use (72.2 %) (P=0.000). However, significant differences are not exist between the two groups regarding the number of affected coronary arteries (P=0.679). CONCLUSION: although risk factors of CAD such as HTN and DM is higher in patients without opium addiction than in addicted patients, but CAD was more created in patients using drugs and this suggests drugs as an important risk factor for coronary artery disease.