Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Calverton, MD, USA.
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021 Jun;45(6):1225-1236. doi: 10.1111/acer.14613. Epub 2021 Apr 30.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, very little was known about the impact of social isolation on individuals' alcohol use and misuse. This study examines how socially isolated individuals with a history of heavy drinking used alcohol during the pandemic.
Data for this study came from an add-on to the Managing Heavy Drinking (MHD) longitudinal study of drivers convicted of DWI that was conducted in Erie County, New York. Pre-COVID information (October 2019-March 2020) was augmented with a COVID-19 questionnaire collected between July and August 2020. A total of 92 participants completed the COVID-19 survey.
The sample of problem drinkers showed a significant increase after the pandemic outbreak in the average number of drinking days from 1.99 to 2.49 per week (p = 0.047), but a significant decrease in the average number of drinks per drinking day, from 3.74 to 2.74 (p = 0.003). The proportion of individuals who drank more frequently was greater among those who, before the outbreak had an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score <8 (26% increase) compared with those with an AUDIT score of >8 (13%). Alcohol treatment was also associated with the frequency of drinking, with individuals who were not in alcohol treatment showing a 16% increase in frequency compared with a 10% increase among those in treatment. Further, individuals who, after the outbreak worried about their health (30%) or finances (37%) reported greater increases in the frequency of drinking than those who did not worry about their health (17%) or finances (10%).
Overall, the individuals in our sample showed small changes in the frequency andheaviness of drinking after the outbreak of COVID-19, effects that opposite in direction from one another and thus resulted in no overall change in drinks consumed. Nonetheless, we identified factors that influenced the effects of the pandemic on drinking behavior among individuals convicted of DWI, which emphasizes the need to individualize these individuals' treatment, particularly in the context of dramatic environmental change.
在 COVID-19 大流行之前，人们对社会隔离对个体饮酒和滥用的影响知之甚少。本研究探讨了有大量饮酒史的社会隔离个体在大流行期间如何使用酒精。
本研究的数据来自纽约州伊利县进行的一项针对因酒驾被定罪的司机的长期饮酒管理（MHD）研究的附加内容。2019 年 10 月至 2020 年 3 月期间收集的 COVID-19 问卷补充了之前的 COVID-19 信息。共有 92 名参与者完成了 COVID-19 调查。
在大流行爆发后，问题饮酒者样本的平均饮酒天数从每周 1.99 天增加到 2.49 天（p = 0.047），但平均每天饮酒量从 3.74 减少到 2.74 （p = 0.003）。在爆发前，AUDIT 得分<8 分的个体（26%的增加）比 AUDIT 得分>8 分的个体（13%的增加）中，饮酒更频繁的个体比例更高。此外，未接受酒精治疗的个体与接受治疗的个体相比，饮酒频率增加了 16%，而接受治疗的个体仅增加了 10%。此外，在大流行后，担心自己健康（30%）或财务状况（37%）的个体报告的饮酒频率增加幅度大于不担心自己健康（17%）或财务状况（10%）的个体。
总体而言，我们的样本中的个体在 COVID-19 爆发后，饮酒频率和饮酒量略有变化，这些变化的方向相反，因此总体饮酒量没有变化。尽管如此，我们确定了影响 DWI 个体在大流行期间饮酒行为的因素，这强调了需要对这些个体进行个体化治疗，尤其是在环境发生重大变化的情况下。
