Heart failure associated with illicit use of the psychostimulant methamphetamine (MethHF) is increasing in the US and around the world across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, a literature review indicates.
MethHF is associated with increased severity for HF, longer inpatient stay, and more readmissions, compared with non-MethHF, the data show.
Clinicians “need to consider methamphetamine as a potential etiology for heart failure and include a substance use history when evaluating patients. Treating methamphetamine use disorder improves heart failure outcomes,” first author Veena Manja, MD, PhD, with Stanford University, Stanford, California, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology.
The study was published online December 1 in the journal Heart.
Poor Outcomes, ‘Staggering’ Costs
This “thoughtful” review is “important and necessary,” wrote Jonathan Davis, MD, director of the Heart Failure Program, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, California, in an editorial in the journal.
Davis noted that patients with MethHF are at increased risk for poor outcomes and death and the healthcare costs related to MethHF are “staggering.”
As an example, inpatient data for California show annual charges related to MethHF rose by 840% from 2008 to 2018, from $41.5 million to $390.2 million, compared with 82% for all HF, which rose from $3.5 billion to $6.8 billion.
Illicit use of methamphetamine — also known as “crystal meth,” “ice,” and “speed” — has been linked to hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, aortic dissection, and sudden death. But until now, there was no comprehensive systematic review of published studies on MethHF.
“Our goal was to compile current knowledge on the topic, increase awareness of this condition and identify areas for future research,” Manja said.
The researchers reviewed 21 observational studies, mostly from the US (14 from California), between 1997 and 2020. The mean age of adults with MethHF ranged in age from 35 to 60 and more than half were male (57%).
Illicit methamphetamine was inhaled, injected, swallowed, smoked, and snorted. The reported frequency ranged from daily to every other week, and the total monthly dose ranged from 0.35 g to 24.5 g.
The average duration of meth use before HF diagnosis was 5 years. However, 18% of users developed HF within 1 year of starting to use illicit methamphetamine. In some cases, HF was diagnosed after a single use.
The researchers also note that MethHF with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), seen in up to 44% of cases, is a distinct entity that may progress to reduced LVEF with continued use.
MethHF is also associated with a greater likelihood of other substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and other heart and kidney disease.
Factors associated with improved MethHF outcomes include female sex, meth abstinence and adherence to guideline-directed HF therapy.
Improvement in MethHF outcomes is possible even if abstinence is not consistent, a finding that lends support to harm reduction principles of “meeting patients where they are instead of insisting on complete abstinence,” the researchers said.
Large Gaps in Knowledge
They were unable to combine the results into a meta-analysis due to heterogeneity in study design, population, comparator, and outcome assessment. Also, the overall risk of bias is moderate due to the presence of confounders, selection bias and poor matching, and the overall certainty in the evidence is very low, they noted.
No study evaluated the incidence or prevalence of HF among methamphetamine users and inconsistent history taking and testing in patients with HF impeded accurate MethHF prevalence assessment.
Several studies, however, document an increasing incidence of MethHF, particularly over the past decade.
One study from California reported a 585% increase in MethHF hospital admissions between 2008 and 2018. An analysis of the National Inpatient Survey (NIS) found a 12-fold increase in annual MethHF hospitalizations between 2002 and 2014.
“The results of this systematic review highlight large gaps in our knowledge” of MethHF, Manja told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology.
“We need to understand the epidemiology, prevalence, factors that confer susceptibility to cardiovascular outcomes, and need research into treatment targeted towards this disease,” Manja added. “We should consider options to integrate substance use treatment in HF/cardiology/primary care clinics and design a multidisciplinary patient-centered approach.”
Davis agreed. This work “highlights that the standard of care academically and clinically must be a broad team across the care spectrum to simultaneously address methamphetamine use, heart failure, and social determinants of health,” he wrote.
This research had no specific funding. Manja and Davis reported no relevant disclosures.
Heart. Published online December 1, 2022. Article. Editorial.
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