Dataset Information

Alcohol Consumption in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Excessive alcohol use is a serious and growing public health problem. Alcoholic beverage sales in the United States increased greatly immediately after the stay-at-home orders and relaxing of alcohol restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is not known to what degree alcohol consumption changed. This study assesses differences in alcohol drinking patterns before and after the enactment of stay-at-home orders.

Methods

In May 2020, a cross-sectional online survey of 993 individuals using a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the US population aged 21 and older was used to assess alcohol drinking patterns before (February, 2020) and after (April, 2020) the enactment of stay-at-home orders among those who consumed alcohol in February, 2020 (n = 555). Reported differences in alcohol consumption were computed, and associations between differences in consumption patterns and individual characteristics were examined.

Results

Compared to February, respondents reported consuming more drinks per day in April (+29%, P < 0.001), and a greater proportion reported exceeding recommended drinking limits (+20%, P < 0.001) and binge drinking (+21%, P = 0.001) in April. These differences were found for all sociodemographic subgroups assessed. February to April differences in the proportion exceeding drinking limits were larger for women than men (P = 0.026) and for Black, non-Hispanic people than White, non-Hispanic people (P = 0.028).

Conclusions

There is an association among the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health response to it, changes in alcohol policy, and alcohol consumption. Public health monitoring of alcohol consumption during the pandemic is warranted.

SUBMITTER: Barbosa C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8327759 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundAlthough the direct toll of COVID-19 in the United States has been substantial, concerns have also arisen about the indirect effects of the pandemic. Hospitalizations for acute cardiovascular conditions have declined, raising concern that patients may be avoiding hospitals because of fear of contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome- coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Other factors, including strain on health care systems, may also have had an indirect toll.ObjectivesThis investigation aimed to evaluate whether population-level deaths due to cardiovascular causes increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThe authors conducted an observational cohort study using data from the National Center for Health Statistics to evaluate the rate of deaths due to cardiovascular causes after the onset of the pandemic in the United States, from March 18, 2020, to June 2, 2020, relative to the period immediately preceding the pandemic (January 1, 2020 to March 17, 2020). Changes in deaths were compared with the same periods in the previous year.ResultsThere were 397,042 cardiovascular deaths from January 1, 2020, to June 2, 2020. Deaths caused by ischemic heart disease increased nationally after the onset of the pandemic in 2020, compared with changes over the same period in 2019 (ratio of the relative change in deaths per 100,000 in 2020 vs. 2019: 1.11, 95% confidence interval: 1.04 to 1.18). An increase was also observed for deaths caused by hypertensive disease (1.17, 95% confidence interval: 1.09 to 1.26), but not for heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, or other diseases of the circulatory system. New York City experienced a large relative increase in deaths caused by ischemic heart disease (2.39, 95% confidence interval: 1.39 to 4.09) and hypertensive diseases (2.64, 95% confidence interval: 1.52 to 4.56) during the pandemic. More modest increases in deaths caused by these conditions occurred in the remainder of New York State, New Jersey, Michigan, and Illinois but not in Massachusetts or Louisiana.ConclusionsThere was an increase in deaths caused by ischemic heart disease and hypertensive diseases in some regions of the United States during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggest that the pandemic may have had an indirect toll on patients with cardiovascular disease.