Chest Pain May Signal Cocaine Use in Young Patients

(Page 2)

While patients are in an observation unit, there's also an opportunity for healthcare providers to offer drug-cessation counseling.

"Currently, the level of drug counseling available in most observation units, particularly at night, amounts to a pamphlet on drug abuse and referral phone numbers. This is an area where we can do a better job," McCord said. "We should use that hospital visit as a teachable moment to educate these patients on how they can improve their health and offer them counseling and referral programs for drug cessation."

The new AHA statement also addresses the issue of stents, which are used to prop open arteries in order to help restore blood flow to the heart. Long-term cocaine users with a coronary artery blockage should receive bare-metal stents instead of drug-eluting [emitting] stents. That's because people with a long history of cocaine use may not adhere to schedules for taking medications aimed at preventing drug-eluting stents from becoming blocked, the statement says.

The statement was published in the journal Circulation.

More information

The Office of National Drug Control Policy has more about cocaine.