Imaging plaque inflammation in asymptomatic cocaine addicted individuals with simultaneous positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging

Table 1 Sample characteristics: Demographics, cardiovascular risk, and drug use

	Group 1: Cardiovascular risk[15] (n = 62)	Group 2: Healthy controls (n = 10)	Group 3: Cocaine users (n = 14)
Demographics
Race	62 white (94%); 4 other	5 black (50%); 4 white; 1 other	13 black (93%); 1 white
Gender	55 men (83%)	8 men (80%)	10 men (71%)
Agead	64.6 ± 7.8	46.2 ± 5.3	50.8 ± 4.1
Education	NA	15.0 ± 2.0	13.6 ± 1.8
Cardiovascular risk
BMI	NA	29.1 ± 5.0	28.3 ± 3.71
Heart rate	NA	74.9 ± 11.9	79.1 ± 10.9
Total cholesterol	NA	182.7 ± 28.22	163.3 ± 28.93
HDL cholesterol	NA	55.8 ± 16.14	42.3 ± 9.15
Drug use
Alcohol lifetime	NA	18.9 ± 13.4	20.8 ± 11.8
Cocaine lifetime	NA	NA	21.9 ± 7.9
Nicotine lifetimef	12% current	10.0% current; 20.0% past; 70.0% never; 3.5 ± 8.1	64.3% current; 28.6% past; 7.1% never; 26.4 ± 10.1
THC lifetimee	NA	0.5 ± 1.3	9.1 ± 10.5
Cocaine withdrawal[22]	NA	NA	18.6 ± 11.9
Cocaine craving[23]	NA	NA	14.7 ± 14.5
Severity of drug dependence[24]	NA	NA	3.2 ± 3.6

¹n = 13.

²n = 7.

³n = 4.

⁴n = 6.

⁵n = 3. Cardiovascular risk > cocaine users:

^aP < 0.001. Healthy controls < cocaine users:

^dP < 0.05,

^eP < 0.01,

^fP < 0.001. Cocaine Selective Severity Assessment Scale[22] (range: 0-126). Cocaine Craving Questionnaire[23] (range: 0-45). Severity of Dependence Scale[24] (range: 0-15). NA: Not available; BMI: Body Mass index; THC: Tetrahydrocannabinol.

Table 2 Positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging results by group

	Group 1: Cardiovascular risk[15] (n = 62)	Group 2: Cocaine users (n = 13)		Group 3: Healthy controls (n = 10)	Group 2 and 3 difference [Sig. (ANCOVA)]
PET results
Target-to-Background ratios (TBR max)
Left	NA		1.77 ± 0.10	1.77 ± 0.07	F (1, 20) = 0.3, P = 0.619
Right	NA		1.93 ± 0.09	1.76 ± 0.04	F (1, 20) = 1.9, P = 0.178
R+L	NA		1.85 ± 0.09	1.76 ± 0.05	F (1, 20)= -0.2, P = 0.687
Most diseased segment
Left	NA		2.05 ± 0.15	1.99 ± 0.09	F (1, 20) = 0.0, P = 0.914
Right	NA		2.10 ± 0.10	1.93 ± 0.07	F (1, 20) = 1.3, P = 0.259
R+L	NA		2.07 ± 0.11	1.96 ± 0.08	F (1, 20) = 0.4, P = 0.560
MR results
Wall thickness (mm; mean, SE)
Left	NA		1.53 ± 0.06	1.25 ± 0.04	F (1, 20) = 7.6, P = 0.012
Right	NA		1.50 ± 0.07 1	1.20 ± 0.05	F (1, 19) = 8.3, P = 0.009
R+L	1.27 ± 0.04; t(12)2 = 4.12, P = 0.001		1.51 ± 0.062	1.22 ± 0.04 3	F (1, 20) = 100, P = 0.005
Wall area (mm2)
Left	NA		35.67 ± 2.25	29.02 ± 1.54	F (1, 20) = 3.3, P = 0.086
Right	NA		34.51 ± 2.061	27.37 ± 1.43	F (1, 19) = 4.9, P = 0.039
R + L	32.28 ± 1.43; t(9)4 = -3.13, P = 0.012		35.18 ± 1.95 5	28.19 ± 1.314	F (1, 20) = 4.9, P = 0.039

¹n = 12.

²Cocaine users > Cardiovascular risk: P < 0.001.

³Cardiovascular disease risk and healthy controls group difference: t(9) = -1.12, P = 0.294.

⁴Cardiovascular risk > healthy controls: P < 0.05.

⁵Cocaine users and Cardiovascular risk group difference: t(12) = 1.49, P = 0.163. NA: Not available.