Alcohol Consumption during a Pandemic Lockdown Period and Change in Alcohol Consumption Related to Worries and Pandemic Measures

Abstract

Whether lockdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic influences alcohol consumption is not well known. This study assesses alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking behavior during the initial phase of pandemic measures in Norway and identifies potential risk factors. A cross-sectional study (N = 25,708) was conducted in Bergen, Norway, following the first six weeks of strict infection control measures. In a model of self-assessed increased alcohol consumption, logistic regression analysis was conducted with independent variables for COVID-19-related worries, joblessness, quarantine, self-reported drinking behavior, age, gender, and occupational situation. These are reported with odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals. Fifty-one percent of respondents reported economic or health-related worries due to COVID-19, 16% had been in quarantine, 49% worked/studied from home, 54% reported hazardous drinking behavior, and 13% reported increased alcohol consumption. People aged 30–39 years had elevated odds of increased alcohol consumption during lockdown (OR 3.1, 2.4−3.8) compared to the oldest adults. Increased drinking was more frequent among people reporting economic worries (OR 1.6, 1.4−1.8), those quarantined (OR 1.2, 1.1−1.4), and those studying or working at home (OR 1.4, 1.3−1.6). More than half of respondents reported hazardous drinking behavior. Increased alcohol consumption during lockdown was common among people with economic worries, people in quarantine, and people studying or working at home. These data could be important when adjusting pandemic measures.

Associations of Sociodemographic Factors and Health Behaviors with the Emotional Well-Being of Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil

“…The findings also revealed frequent sedentary behaviors, unhealthy food intake, alcohol consumption, and reduction of physical activity during the COVID-19. All these unhealthy habits showed negative associations with worsening of emotional status, corroborating results of other publications [26][27][28]50]. On the other hand, the regular intake of fruits and vegetables as well as the practice of physical activity during the pandemic showed a positive influence on emotional well-being in line with previous evidence [51].…”

“…Anxiety, depression, loneliness, and poor sleep quality are the most common psychological problems [22][23][24][25]. Several modifiable risk and protective factors have been identified in adolescents, with better nutritional status and regular practice of physical activity associated with lower levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, as well as better sleep quality [26,27], whereas alcohol consumption was associated with higher levels of mental health problems [28]. Moreover, evidence of socioeconomic inequalities has been found for both mental health and healthy lifestyles, and it invariably shows unfavorable data regarding adolescents of disadvantaged families [19,29].…”

Changes in Alcohol Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Small Change in Total Consumption, but Increase in Proportion of Heavy Drinkers

“…During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many survey studies found that a large proportion of current drinkers reported they had changed their consumption, either by drinking less or by drinking more [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. In most of these studies, the proportion having decreased their consumption was larger than that reporting increased consumption.…”

Patterns of Alcohol Use among Italian Young Adults before and during a COVID-19 lockdown: A Latent Class Analysis Study

“…Garnett et al (2021) found about the same proportion of UK adults (25%) reporting drinking more and less alcohol than usual during the COVID-19 related lockdown with those younger, female, of high socioeconomic position, suffering from an anxiety disorder, and stressed about finances or COVID-19 to be at greater risk. Others studies in the UK and Norway indicate that increased alcohol use and misuse were associated with psychological, social and economic stress and vulnerability (Alpers et al, 2021;Naughton et al, 2021).…”