Complications
This section has articles on some aspects of the physical and psychological complications of substance abuse. It contains an overview of Medical and Behavioral Toxicity and individual articles on the following: Cardiovascular System; Cognition; Dermatological; Endocrine and Reproductive Systems; Immunologic; Liver (Alcohol); Liver Damage (Other Drugs); Mental Disorders; Neurological; Nutritional; and those Due to Route of Administration. Each article is extensively cross-referenced and will refer the reader to other articles throughout the Encyclopedia that will either expand or simplify concepts introduced here, and to articles on the many other behavioral and nonmedical complications that arise as a result of alcohol and drug use.
Cardiovascular System (Alcohol and Cocaine)
Since the 1960s, the effects of ALCOHOL (ethanol) on the heart and blood vessels have been extensively studied. Clearly, the toxic effects of both acute and chronic ingestion are independent of nutritional and cardiovascular risk factors. In 1964, a relationship was established between the duration and quantity of alcohol use and the degree of heart disease in patients without nutritional or liver disease. Alcoholism, once felt to be coincidentalwith heart muscle damage, is now among the most frequently identified causes, according to two recent studies that report a 32 percent and a 45 percent incidence, respectively.
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