Illicit Stimulant Use in a United States Heart Failure Population Presenting to the Emergency Department (from the Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry Emergency Module)

Illicit stimulant drug use may have a profound clinical impact in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). The chronic use of cocaine and methamphetamine may lead to overt cardiomyopathy and ADHF. The Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry Emergency Module (ADHERE-EM) collected data on patients presenting to emergency departments with ADHF at 83 geographically dispersed hospitals in the United States. This registry was queried to determine the rate of self-reported illicit drug use in emergency department patients presenting with ADHF and compare these patients with those without illicit drug use. The registry enrolled 11,258 patients with ADHF with drug use data from January 2004 to March 2006. Of these patients, 594 (5.3%) self-reported current or past stimulant drug use. Compared with nonusers, these patients were more likely to be younger (median age 49.7 vs 76.1 years), to be African American (odds ratio 11.9, 95% confidence interval 9.8 to 14.4), and to have left ventricular ejection fractions