HealthDay (8/4, Solomon) reported, “Approximately one-third of patients 50 years or younger with sudden cardiac death (SCD) have positive toxicology for illicit drugs,” investigators concluded in findings published online ahead of print in the journal Heart Rhythm. The study, which “identified rates of illicit drug use in younger patients with SCD using data from 523 patients with confirmed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (ages 18 to 50 years) with a toxicological assessment (April 2019 to April 2021),” revealed that “32.5% of patients had either positive toxicology for illicit drugs (138 patients) or negative toxicology but reported regular drug use (32 patients).”
Related Links:
— “Illicit Drug Use Seen in One-Third of Sudden Cardiac Deaths in Younger Adults,”Lori Solomon, HealthDay, August 4, 2023