Assessment of renal and hepatic function in people that engage in substance abuse among rehabilitation home inmates in Kaduna

Objective: Use of psychoactive substances predates civilization and uses is increasing worldwide. The menace of substance abuse in Nigeria especially among adolescents has become an epidemic with its attendance health and social consequences on the society. The study aims to determine the relationship between substances of abuse as direct risk factor for chronic kidney and liver diseases at Rehabilitation home inmates in Kaduna. Materials and Method: It was cross-sectional study. All Borstal rehabilitation home inmates at Kaduna where administered with questionnaire to assess their biodata, medical history, social history including substance abuse history. They were screened for hepatitis B and C, HIV, liver and renal function. All those that tested positive to the viral HBsAg, HCV Ab and HIV were exempted from further analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 Results: A total 315 participants were analyzed after excluding those with positive results of HBsAg, HCV and HIV. Of whom 303 (84.6%) were males with a median age = 21.0 ± 13.465. Among the substances consumed Codeine (48.6%) was the most consumed, followed by Tramadol (33.8%). There was a negative correlation between use of substances and eGFR ( P = 0.234). Conversely, there was positive correlation between use of substances and ALT ( P = 0.063). Cross-tabulation between abuse of substances with eGFR was found to be statistically significant ( P = 0.002). However, a similar crosstabulation with ALT was not statistically significant ( P = 0.085). Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis shows no relationship between substance abuse and eGFR, but with an odd of 1.419 for ALT >2 times upper limit of normal ( P = 0.138). Conclusion: Substance abuse is prominent among Borstal home inmates and is a potential risk for kidney and liver disease.