3.1% of sudden deaths linked to cocaine

(Agencies) Cocaine use is risky at any time, be it sporadic or usual. So says a study carried out by a forensic team from the Institute of Legal Medicine od Sevilla, which reveals that 3.1% of sudden deaths registered in the province from 2003 to 2006 are directly related to the use of cocaine. The team studied the results of over 2700 autopsies over the three years. There were 668 sudden deaths, of which 21 were caused by the drug. The autopsies were carried out on men between 21 and 45 years of age, with an average age of  34, all of whom had heart problems as the result of cocaine use. The study appears today in the European Heart Journal and, according to its authors, the conclusions can be extrapolated to the rest of Europe, where cocaine abuse has become a growing public health problem. The drug is used by 12 million adult Europeans between the ages of 15 and 4, which is 3.7% of the population, though it is more prevalent in the 15 34 age group.