Abstract
Over the past 20 years, we have observed a paucity of morbidity and mortality due
to cardiovascular disease among drug users in a methadone maintenance clinic. The
present study investigated whether long-term exposure to opiates or opioids is associated
with decreased severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) by comparing 98 decedents
with methadone or opiates (M/O) in their blood at autopsy with 97 frequency-matched
decedents without M/O. Severe CAD was found significantly less often in M/O-positive
decedents (5 of 98) than in M/O-negative decedents (16 of 97). Multiple logistic regression
analysis contrasting those with moderate or severe CAD to those with no or mild CAD
yielded an odds ratio of 0.43 (95% confidence interval 0.20 to 0.94) for M/O positivity
after adjustment for potential confounding. Long-term opiate exposure thus may mitigate
CAD severity and its often fatal consequences.
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Article Info
Publication History
Accepted:
January 29,
2004
Received in revised form:
January 29,
2004
Received:
September 30,
2003
Footnotes
☆This work was supported in part by grant 1 R01 DA 15303 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, Maryland, and a Grant-in-Aid from the American Heart Association (Southeast Affiliate), Marietta, Georgia.
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 Excerpta Medica Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
