Drugs such as cocaine, ice linked to one in three cardiac arrest deaths of Victorians aged 19 to 50

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The director of cardiology at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, associate professor Andrew MacIsaac, who works alongside Paratz, said that in the past decade, illicit drugs have been increasingly recognised as the potential cause of unexplained heart attacks or chest pain, partly because of research conducted in Melbourne.

The American Heart Association’s diagnostic guideline now says it is reasonable to consider cocaine and methamphetamine as a possible cause of chest pain.

MacIsaac…