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. 2021 Feb:296:113676.
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113676. Epub 2020 Dec 25.

Alcohol dependence during COVID-19 lockdowns

William D S Killgore  1 , Sara A Cloonan  2 , Emily C Taylor  2 , Daniel A Lucas  2 , Natalie S Dailey  2
Affiliations

Alcohol dependence during COVID-19 lockdowns

William D S Killgore et al. Psychiatry Res. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

To determine whether the past half-year of COVID-19-related lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and social isolation were associated with changes in high-risk alcohol use, a total of 5,931 individuals completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) at one of six time points from April through September 2020. Over the 6-month period, hazardous alcohol use and likely dependence increased month-by-month for those under lockdowns compared to those not under restrictions. This increase in harmful alcohol use and related behaviors is likely to have prolonged adverse psychosocial, interpersonal, occupational, and health impacts as the world attempts to recover from the pandemic crisis.

Keywords: Alcohol dependence; COVID-19; Lockdowns.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Estimated marginal mean scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) over the six months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. The figure shows an interaction between lockdown status and month (p < .000001). Simple effects analyses revealed a significant increase in month-by-month AUDIT scores for those reporting being under lockdown (red, p < .000001), but no significant difference across months for those not under lockdown (blue, p = .122). Post-hoc comparisons show significantly greater AUDIT scores for those under lockdown than not (*p ≤ 0.001, Bonferroni corrected).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The percentage of participants exceeding established cutoffs on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), adjusted for age, sex, and job loss. Left: Results for harmful alcohol use (AUDIT scores ≥ 8); Middle: Results for probable alcohol dependence (AUDIT scores ≥ 15); Right: Results for severe alcohol dependence (AUDIT scores ≥ 20). Top Row: Trends for the sample as a whole (n = 5931). Bottom Row: Effects of lockdown (red) versus no lockdown (blue).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Morning drinking during COVID-19 lockdowns.
    Killgore WDS, Cloonan SA, Taylor EC, Vanuk JR, Dailey NS. Killgore WDS, et al. Psychiatry Res. 2022 Jan;307:114320. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114320. Epub 2021 Dec 1. Psychiatry Res. 2022. PMID: 34910965 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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