High-Risk Drinking in Midlife Before Versus During the COVID-19 Crisis: Longitudinal Evidence From the United Kingdom

Daly, Michael and Robinson, Eric ORCID: 0000-0003-3586-5533 (2020) High-Risk Drinking in Midlife Before Versus During the COVID-19 Crisis: Longitudinal Evidence From the United Kingdom. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 60 (2). pp. 294-297.

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Abstract

<h4>Introduction</h4>Emerging evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions may have influenced alcohol consumption. This study examines changes in high-risk alcohol consumption from before to during the COVID-19 crisis in an established cohort of middle-aged British adults.<h4>Methods</h4>Participants consisted of 3,358 middle-aged adults from the 1970 British Cohort Study who completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for detecting hazardous drinkers in primary care settings in 2016-2018 (when aged 46-48 years) and May 2020 (aged 50 years). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine changes in high-risk drinking (scores of ≥5), and multinomial regression was used to compare responses with individual test items in 2016-2018 and May 2020.<h4>Results</h4>Among middle-aged British adults, high-risk drinking increased by 5.2 percentage points from 19.4% to 24.6% (p<0.001) between 2016-2018 and May 2020. The increase in high-risk drinking was not moderated by sex, marital status, educational attainment, the presence of a chronic illness, or the year the baseline survey was completed. The prevalence of drinking ≥4 times a week doubled from 12.5% to 26% from before to during the pandemic (p<0.001), and there was also evidence of an increase in the frequency of being unable to stop drinking.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study provides evidence linking the COVID-19 crisis and associated lockdown restrictions to an increase in high-risk drinking patterns and particularly frequent drinking in British adults. Potential long-term changes in drinking habits should be monitored following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Humans, Alcoholism, Prevalence, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Alcohol Drinking, Social Isolation, Psychological Techniques, Communicable Disease Control, Middle Aged, Primary Health Care, Female, Male, United Kingdom, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	04 Dec 2020 09:47
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:19
DOI:	10.1016/j.amepre.2020.09.004
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3109166