People who use cocaine heavily may cause serious damage to their heart without even realising it, a new study has found.
Scientists from Pisa in Italy assessed the heart health of 30 long-term cocaine users who were enrolled on a residential drug rehab programme.
Participants had typically been using cocaine for 12 years and consumed around 5.5g of the drug each day.
All of the patients had normal heart function, but the researchers identified abnormalities in 12 of the 30 participants and discovered that 83 per cent showed signs of structural damage.
Almost half of patients had swelling in the lower left chamber of the heart and the degree of swelling was linked to an individual's level of cocaine consumption.
The researchers also found that 73 per cent of addicts had tissue scarring, which can be caused by a silent heart attack or toxic damage.
They noted that tissue scarring is irreversible, which means that heavy cocaine users may be causing serious damage to their heart without even noticing any symptoms.
Writing in Heart journal, the study authors concluded: 'We found a high prevalence of cardiac damage in asymptomatic cocaine addicts.
'This may indicate the need for screening in long-term users, even when they are asymptomatic.'
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