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

Abstract

Little is known about possible changes in alcohol consumption distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimated how individual changes in alcohol consumption during the pandemic translated into changes in: (i) mean consumption; (ii) dispersion of consumption distribution; and (iii) prevalence of heavy drinkers. We employed data from two independent web-surveys of Norwegian adults collected between April and July 2020 and limited to those reporting past year alcohol consumption (N₁ = 15,267, N₂ = 1195). Self-reports of changes in drinking behavior were quantified, assuming change being relative to baseline consumption level. During the pandemic, we found a small increase (Survey 1) or no change (Survey 2) in estimated mean alcohol consumption (which parallels to total consumption). However, in both surveys, the dispersion of the distribution increased significantly (p < 0.001). For most respondents, an average modest decline in consumption was found. However, the small fraction with the highest baseline consumption increased their consumption substantially, and in effect, the proportion of heavy drinkers increased markedly (p < 0.001). In conclusion, quantifications of reported changes in alcohol consumption during the pandemic suggest that the upper 5 to 10% of the drinkers increased their consumption and hence the prevalence of heavy drinkers increased, despite little or no change in total alcohol consumption.

Keywords: COVID-19; Norway; alcohol use; changes; distribution of consumption; heavy drinkers.

Figure 1

Self-reported changes in drinking behavior by baseline consumption categories and survey. Note: the baseline consumption categories are based on percentiles. Low = < 25th percentile, moderate = between the 25th and 50th percentiles, some high = between the 50th and 75th percentiles, very high = between the 75th and 90th percentiles, and heavy = > 90th percentile; more frequent = reporting ‘much more often’ or ‘slightly more often’ on change in drinking frequency in the past month; less frequent = reporting ‘much less often’ or ‘slightly less often’ on change in drinking frequency in the past month; more drinking = reporting ‘much more’ or ‘slightly more’ on change in alcohol consumption during the pandemic; less drinking = reporting ‘much less’ or ‘slightly less’ on change in alcohol consumption during the pandemic.

Figure 2

(a) Estimated change in the volume of consumption during the pandemic by baseline consumption level and four models for estimating change—ESAC survey. (b) Estimated change in volume of consumption during the pandemic by baseline consumption level and four models for estimating change—Opinion survey. Note 1: baseline consumption level categories correspond to intervals between the percentiles presented in Table 2, respectively.

Figure 2

(a) Estimated change in the volume of consumption during the pandemic by baseline consumption level and four models for estimating change—ESAC survey. (b) Estimated change in volume of consumption during the pandemic by baseline consumption level and four models for estimating change—Opinion survey. Note 1: baseline consumption level categories correspond to intervals between the percentiles presented in Table 2, respectively.