Altered alcohol consumption during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Abstract

Background: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, many countries around the world have imposed lockdown measures in order to reduce virus spread. Social isolation is known to have a significant psychological impact, potentially triggering alcohol misuse in adults. In our study, we aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 lockdown measures on alcohol consumption in adults in Bavaria.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 2067 participants, with 1961 young adults (mean age 23.3 ± 4.1) and 106 mature adults (mean age 66.7 ± 9.7). Participants were asked to complete a standardized questionnaire, semi-quantitatively evaluating the alcohol drinking behaviour before and during the pandemic lockdown.

Results: After implementation of lockdown, the alteration of alcohol consumption was significantly different between young and mature adults (p < 0.001). Among young adults, 42% reported unchanged drinking behaviour compared to 76% in the mature adult group; 44% of young adults reported to drink less compared to only 7% of mature adults. An increase in alcohol consumption was only reported by 14% of young adults and 17% of mature adults. Interestingly, in the entire cohort, the change of alcohol intake was most pronounced among moderate drinkers (> 0 to < 5 drinks/week) in both age groups (p < 0.001). Ordinal logistic regression revealed female sex, low BMI and younger age to be associated with a decrease in number of self-reported drinks/week.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown significantly affected alcohol drinking behaviour. Further studies exploring long-term effects on potential alcohol misuse and the relevance on public health are warranted.

Trial registration: The study was retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT04361877 ) on April 24, 2020.

Keywords: Alcohol misuse; Lifestyle; Prevention; SARS-CoV-2.

Fig. 1

Daily new cases in Bavaria. Timeline showing the number of new confirmed infections with SARS-CoV-2 in Bavaria per day (grey bars) and the cumulative number of cases (red line). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Bavaria was on the 27th of January (dotted line), which was also the first case in Germany. Lockdown was implemented by the local authorities in Bavaria on the 21st of March (line). Study participants were asked to compare their alcohol consumption habits before the lockdown (pastel blue area) to during the study period after implementation of the lockdown (pastel green area). The yellow box indicates the data collection period of the questionnaire

Fig. 2

Change in alcohol consumption since lockdown implementation. Participants were asked if their alcohol consumption had changed since implementation of lockdown measures. 44% (n = 854) of young adults and 76% (n = 80) of mature adults reported to have an unchanged drinking behaviour. More young adults (42%, n = 817) than mature adults (7%, n = 7) stated to be drinking less. The number of participants drinking more was similar in both age groups (mature adults, 17%, n = 18, vs. young adults, 14%, n = 275, p < 0.001 for all groups)

Fig. 3

Quantification of drinking behaviour before and during lockdown. Participants were asked to semi-quantify the number of drinks per week they consumed before and during lockdown. Among young adults, a marked increase in participants stating to be drinking 0 drinks per week was observed while all numbers in all other categories decreased slightly. Mature adults did not change their drinking behaviour as much