Shifts in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic early indications from Australia

Callinan, Sarah; Smit, Koen; Mojica Perez, Yvette; D'Aquino, Simon; Moore, David; Kuntsche, Emmanuel

doi:10.26181/17157704.v1

Shifts in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic early indications from Australia

journal contribution

posted on 2021-12-14, 02:05 authored by Sarah CallinanSarah Callinan, Koen SmitKoen Smit, Yvette Mojica PerezYvette Mojica Perez, Simon D'AquinoSimon D'Aquino, David Moore, Emmanuel KuntscheEmmanuel Kuntsche

Abstract:

Background and aim: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol consumption is currently unclear. This study aimed to provide early estimates of how stress and demographics will interact with shifts in harmful alcohol consumption from before the COVID-19 outbreak to 2 months into social distancing.

Design: Cross-sectional convenience sample.

Setting: Australia.

Participants: A total of 1684 Australians aged 18–65 years who drink at least monthly.

Measurements: Items from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the stress subscale of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS).

Findings: Overall, harmful drinking decreased during social distancing measures in our sample [2019 score = 8.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 7.9–8.4; during the pandemic = 7.3, 95% CI = 7.1–7.6]. Younger drinkers, particularly young women, decreased their consumption the most, but there was a small increase in consumption in middle-aged women. Drinkers experiencing high levels of stress also reported a relatively higher shift in harmful consumption compared with those with low levels of stress (β = 0.65, P = 0.003), despite reporting a small decrease overall.

Conclusions: The closure of licensed premises and social distancing measures in Australia in response to the COVID-19 outbreak appear to have reduced harmful alcohol consumption in younger drinkers, particularly young women.

Funding

S.C. is funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE180100016). The Centre for Alcohol Policy Research is co-funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, an independent, charitable organization working to prevent the harmful use of alcohol in Australia (http://www.fare.org.au). The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare manage the data collection and dissemination of the National Drug Strategy Household Survey and we are grateful to them for facilitating access to the data via the Australian Data Archive.

History

Publication Date

2021-06-01

Journal

Addiction

Volume

116

Issue

6

Pagination

8p. (p. 1381-1388)

Publisher

Wiley

ISSN

1360-0443

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