Opium use and cardiovascular diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Pharmacology
• Public Health

Background:

• Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) pose a significant global health burden.
• Opium's impact on CVDs requires comprehensive summarization due to existing research gaps.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are crucial for synthesizing evidence on drug effects on health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and meta-analyze observational studies on opium use and cardiovascular diseases.
• To quantify the association between opium consumption and coronary artery disease (CAD).
• To evaluate opium's effect on in-hospital mortality and ejection fraction (EF) in cardiovascular patients.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, and Scopus databases until October 2018.
• Inclusion of observational studies with quality assessment.
• Meta-analysis using fixed or random models to pool odds ratios (OR) and mean differences, assessing heterogeneity with the I-square test.

Main Results:

• Opium use was associated with a significantly increased odds of coronary artery disease (CAD) (OR: 2.75, 95% CI: 2.04-3.75).
• No statistically significant association was found between opium use and in-hospital CVD mortality (OR: 1.44, 95% CI: 0.88-2.36).
• Opium users undergoing heart surgery showed a significantly lower ejection fraction (EF) (mean difference: -3.06, 95% CI: -4.40 to -1.71), while no significant difference was observed in acute myocardial infarction patients.

Conclusions:

• Opium may be a risk factor for developing coronary artery disease (CAD).
• Opium use is associated with reduced ejection fraction (EF) in specific cardiovascular patient groups.
• Evidence does not support opium use as a significant risk factor for in-hospital cardiovascular disease mortality.