MONDAY, Jan. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Daily marijuana use is associated with a higher likelihood of moderate to severe liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, according to research published in the January issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Julie H. Ishida, M.D., and colleagues from the University of California San Francisco, examined whether cannabis use was associated with severe fibrosis in 204 individuals with chronic HCV infection. The researchers note that 13.7 percent of subjects reported daily cannabis use, 45.1 percent reported occasional use and 41.2 percent reported never having used cannabis.
The investigators found that moderate to severe fibrosis (F3-6) was significantly more likely in subjects who used cannabis daily (odds ratio 3.21 in univariate analysis, 6.78 in multivariate analysis). More severe fibrosis was also significantly more common in individuals with 11 or more portal tracks (OR, 6.92 compared with less than five portal tracks) and long-term moderate to heavy alcohol use (OR, 1.72 per decade).
"Daily cannabis use is strongly associated with moderate to severe fibrosis, and HCV-infected individuals should be counseled to reduce or abstain from cannabis use," Ishida and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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