title: Recreational drugs: a new health hazard for patients with concomitant chronic liver diseases.
abstract: Our purpose in this article is to review the effects of recreational drugs, used either on their own but principally combined with alcohol consumption, in determining hepatic injury or influencing the evolution of some chronic diseases of the liver, specifically HCV infection and NAFLD. A deleterious role of daily use of recreational drugs, in particularly cannabis, has been shown to demonstrate clearly a rapid progression of fibrosis and steatosis, leading to a major severity in patients with chronic hepatitis C. On the other hand, the effects of the misuse of these substances on NAFLD, the main obesity-related comorbidity, leading to addiction, is still to be elucidated even though some clues to the recreational drugs hepatotoxicity are already present in the literature. This short review aims at raising awareness about this topic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University Medical School of Naples, Italy. tarantin@unina.it; giovanni.tarantino5@me.com.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tarantino
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Umberto I Hospital, Nocera Inferiore, Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Citro
authors.affiliation: Center of Obesity and Eating Disorders, Stella Maris Mediterraneum Foundation, C/da S. Lucia, Chiaromonte, Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Finelli
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D002188:Cannabis / Q000009:adverse effects; D056486:Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury / Q000209:etiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs