Science / Medicine : Crack Cocaine Linked to Strokes

People who smoke crack cocaine appear to increase their risk of strokes, and doctors should consider drug abuse whenever treating young people with strokes, according to a study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The report found “a strong temporal, if not causal,” link between crack and strokes. “We believe that the ongoing crack epidemic will lead to more cocaine-related strokes,” said Steven R. Levine and his colleagues at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

The report describes 28 people who suffered strokes within 72 hours of smoking crack. Most had been regular crack users for at least two years, one had smoked it only occasionally and another was stricken after his first use.

The researchers theorize that crack and other forms of cocaine could trigger strokes in several ways. The drug raises blood pressure, and this could cause a blood vessel in the brain to burst. The drug also causes heart rhythm abnormalities, which could trigger the formation of a clot that travels to the brain and blocks a blood vessel. Cocaine could also cause spasms that make blood vessels in the brain squeeze shut, starving brain tissue.