Self-Reported Tobacco, Alcohol, and Illicit Drug Use and Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease

Previous studies suggest that tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use is associated with CKD. We examined the associations of substance use with CKD progression and all-cause mortality among patients with CKD.

The Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort Study is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study among 3939 participants with CKD in the United States. Self-reported tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, marijuana use, and hard illicit drug (cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine) use were obtained at baseline and annual follow-up visits. CKD progression was defined as incident ESKD or halving of eGFR. Substance use was modeled as the cumulative average exposure to capture both recent and long-term use in multivariable time-dependent Cox regression.

Over a median 5.5-year follow-up, 1287 participants developed CKD progression, and 1001 died. Baseline proportions of tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, marijuana use, and hard illicit drug use were 13%, 20%, 33%, and 12%, respectively. Compared with nonsmoking throughout follow-up, multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for persistent tobacco smoking were 1.02 (95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 1.21) for CKD progression and 1.86 (95% confidence interval, 1.54 to 2.24) for all-cause mortality. Compared with nondrinking throughout follow-up, multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for persistent alcohol drinking were 1.06 (95% confidence interval, 0.88 to 1.29) for CKD progression and 0.73 (95% confidence interval, 0.58 to 0.91) for all-cause mortality. Compared with nonuse throughout follow-up, multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for persistent marijuana use were 0.94 (95% confidence interval, 0.82 to 1.07) for CKD progression and 1.11 (95% confidence interval, 0.96 to 1.30) for all-cause mortality. Compared with nonuse throughout follow-up, multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for persistent hard illicit drug use were 1.25 (95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.55) for CKD progression and 1.41 (95% confidence interval, 1.10 to 1.81) for all-cause mortality.

Hard illicit drug use is associated with higher risk of CKD progression and all-cause mortality, tobacco smoking is associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality, and alcohol drinking is associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality among patients with CKD.