The Relationship between Opium Addiction and the Severity of Atherosclerosis, Lipid Profile, Inflammatory Cytokines, and Renal Function in Non-diabetic Patients Subjected to Angiography

Background: Despite traditional beliefs about the beneficial effects of opium use, current evidence suggests an adverse effect of this substance on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The present study aimed to investigate the association between opium-addiction status and lipid profile, the severity of atherosclerosis (measured by Gensini score), inflammatory cytokines, and renal function among non-diabetic patients subjected to angiography. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 95 post-angiography patients. Routine tests including lipid profile, blood urea, creatinine, and hematocrit were collected at the time of admission. Also, serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 were measured using ELISA. Independent sample t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and chi-square were used to compare variables according to opium addiction. Multivariate regression was conducted to adjust the effect of potential confounding variables. Results: Opium-addict subjects had a higher IL-6 (P=0.049) level and PLT number (P=0.005). In contrast, there was a lower level of TG (P=0.015) and GFR (P=0.039) in the opium-addict group. There was no association between opium addiction and other variables (P 0.05). Conclusion: Although no significant association was observed between addiction and atherosclerosis and even there was a lower level of TG in addict subjects, there was a direct association between the serum IL-6 levels (an important inflammatory cytokine with adverse effects on coronary artery disease) and opium addiction. It has been revealed that confounding variables affect the relationship between opium use and CVD outcomes. Therefore, well-designed prospective studies controlling a vast range of general variables seem to be necessary.