ReviewCureus2022
Cocaethylene: When Cocaine and Alcohol Are Taken Together.
Review in Cureus, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enhanced and Prolonged Euphoria during Co-Use of Alcohol and Cocaine: A Narrative and Integrative Review.European addiction research · 2026Pooled it
- Letter to the Editor: "Cocaine-induced acute myocardial infarction: angiographic features and outcomes".Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2026Article
- Toxidromes.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026Review
- Long-Acting Naltrexone Restores Network Connectivity in Subjects With Comorbid Cannabis and Opioid Use Disorder.Addiction biology · 2026Article
- Cocaine Use Disorder: Neuropathology and Exploratory Treatments.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Analysis of postmortem dermal extracts is an efficient illicit drug screening method supporting forensic medicine.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Review
- Long-acting naltrexone restores network connectivity in subjects with co-morbid cannabis and opioid use disorder.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Ethanol consumption prior to cocaine self-administration reduced vulnerability to cocaine reinforcement in socially subordinate female and male monkeys.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Substance use and psychiatric outcomes following substance use disorder treatment: An 18-month prospective cohort study in Chile.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Animal models of cocaine use: importance of social context and co-use.Trends in pharmacological sciences · 2025Review
- Intersecting Pathways: Treating Cocaine Withdrawal and Restless Leg Syndrome with Iron and Buproprion.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cocaine is taken frequently together with ethanol and this combination produces a psychoactive metabolite called cocaethylene which has similar properties to the parent drug and may be more cardiotoxic. Cocaethylene has a longer half-life than cocaine, so that people who combine cocaine and ethanol may experience a longer-lasting, as well as more intense, psychoactive effect. Cocaethylene is the only known instance where a new psychoactive substance is formed entirely within the body. Although known to science for decades, cocaethylene has not been extensively studied and even its metabolic pathways are not entirely elucidated. Like its parent drug, cocaethylene blocks the reuptake of dopamine and increases post-synaptic neuronal activity; the parent drug may also block reuptake of serotonin as well. Cocaethylene has been studied in animal models in terms of its pharmacology and its potential neurological effects. Since the combination of cocaine and alcohol is commonly used, it is important for clinicians to be aware of cocaethylene, its role in prolonging or intensifying cocaine intoxication, and how it may exacerbate cocaine-induced cardiovascular disorders. Most cardiac-related risk assessment tools do not ask about cocaine use, which can prevent clinicians from making optimal therapeutic choices. Greater awareness of cocaethylene is needed for clinicians, and those who use cocaine should also be aware of the potential for polysubstance use of cocaine and ethanol to produce a potentially potent and long-lasting psychoactive metabolite.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.