Drug abuse has increased dramatically in the last 10-15 years. Illicit drugs mainly affect the central nervous system, which is why drug abuse leads to addiction. The effects of drug abuse have negative consequences for the whole organism, but in our thesis, we will focus on the cardiovascular system. The most drastic effects on the cardiovascular system are caused by psychostimulants, of which cocaine and amphetamine and its analogue, methamphetamine, are the most known and researched. Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the majority of developed countries in the world. The cardiovascular system supports the functioning of our organism, and the negative effects of drug use can severely affect our organism. The most common acute drug-related consequences are increased blood pressure and cardiac arrhythmias, which can lead to more serious complications, such as myocardial damage or even heart failure with frequent use of illicit drugs.
In the last decade, new psychoactive substances, that have a similar chemical structure or pharmacological profile to traditional illicit drugs, that are already on the illicit drugs list, have become a major problem. In general, the negative effects and activity of new psychoactive substances are similar to traditional illicit drugs, but the problem is that they can go undetected during drug screening, which can increase the risk of incorrect treatment in acute intoxication emergencies.
In our thesis, we discovered that there are no specific or standard guidelines for the treatment of patients with cardiovascular problems due to illicit drug abuse, so we think it would be useful to update the guidelines to include the treatment of patients with cardiovascular problems due to illicit drug abuse.
In our thesis, we conducted a systematic review of illicit drugs that have effects on the cardiovascular system and investigated their mechanisms of action. We reviewed the dangers that illicit drugs have on the cardiovascular system, checked whether there are guidelines for treating patients suffering from cardiovascular problems due to drug abuse, and we looked for options, in which we could try to educate people about the negative effects and try to reduce the presence of illicit drugs in our lives.
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