A concerning trend is emerging among young Americans that could be fueling a rise in a life-threatening medical complication.
Heart attacks are often viewed as a medical emergency common among older adults. Roughly 805,000 Americans have a heart attack each year, translating to one every 40 seconds – and while most of these patients are elderly, heart attacks among young people are on the rise.
Roughly 0.3 percent of Americans aged 18 to 44 had a heart attack in 2019. This rose to 0.5 percent in 2023, the latest year for which data is available.
While it may still seem like a relatively low number, it represents a 66 percent increase in just four years, which doctors have called ‘alarming.’ It also means that one in five heart attack patients is now younger than 40.
Additionally, heart attacks in younger people appear to be deadlier. The risk of dying from a heart attack on average has dropped nearly 90 percent since the 1990s, but a study published earlier this year found deaths from severe first heart attacks among adults 18 to 54 rose 57 percent between 2011 and 2022.
Experts have pointed to diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and a rise in obesity and chronic health conditions as potential causes, but a new study by the American Heart Association has possibly zeroed in on another cause not related at all to weight, cholesterol or how often someone indulges in greasy foods.
Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers found that methamphetamine use was linked to about one-in-six heart attacks among young adults.
Roughly 0.3 percent of Americans aged 18 to 44 had a heart attack in 2019. This rose to 0.5 percent in 2023, the latest year for which data is available (stock image)
Researchers looked at the medical records of 1,300 heart attack patients at a hospital in northern California. The patients were diagnosed with having acute coronary syndrome (ACS), a term referring to heart attacks.
Of the these, 194 patients were identified who had methamphetamine-associated ACS, accounting for 14.8 percent of patients.
Meth, also known as crystal meth, is a highly addictive illegal drug and has seen a rise in use in recent decades, the researchers said.
Research shows that an estimated 2 million Americans 12 years and older reported past-year meth use in 2019.
This was an increase from from 1.4 million in 2016.
CDC data from 2015 to 2018 found that about 1.6 million adults used meth each year on average, and roughly 53 percent met the criteria for methamphetamine use disorder.
When comparing the methamphetamine-associated ACS to patients who hadn’t used the drug, researchers found methamphetamine-associated ACS patients were younger than non-users, 52 compared to 57, and mostly men.
Additionally, despite these ACS patients being younger and having fewer traditional risk factors for heart attacks, they had ‘significantly’ lower survival and were twice as likely to die as non-meth users who experienced an ACS.
The study did find, however, that while meth users were less likely to have risk factors like high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, they were move likely to smoke cigarettes, use alcohol and be unhoused than patients who did not use the drug.
Cigarettes and alcohol both raise the risk of experiencing a heart attack.
Not only did meth users have worse outcomes, they had a 42 percent chance of being readmitted to the hospital with repeat heart attacks, compared to a 27 percent chance among non-meth users.
The above shows the trend of number and percentage of annual methamphetamine‐associated ACS cases from 2012 to 2022
The above shows the annual number of patients within the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare system carrying the methamphetamine dependence diagnosis codes from 2012 to 2022
They also had a higher risk – 22 percent – of death from any cause than non-meth users – whose risk was 14 percent.
Study author Dr Susan Zhao, cardiologist and medical director of the Coronary Care Unit at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said in a press release: ‘Even though meth users were generally younger and didn’t have typical cardiovascular disease-related conditions like high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes or obesity, they were twice as likely to die after a heart attack when compared to non-users.
‘People who use meth need to be aware of the serious health risks associated with it, and medical professionals should closely monitor heart attacks in patients who appear healthy and lack typical risk factors, such as Type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.’
And she warned that as meth uses rises and spreads, meth-related heart attacks ‘will increasingly occur in areas beyond California.’
She added: ‘We want to raise awareness that acute coronary syndrome and meth use affect different groups of people, such as young to middle-aged men without traditional risk factors. These groups have different risk factors and health issues, and they also can have a higher chance of dying from them.
‘These findings show that we need specific prevention and treatment plans for meth users – a vulnerable and high-risk group. New plans should also focus on helping people stop using meth.’
