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. 2024 Dec 9;19(12):e0313599.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313599. eCollection 2024.

A longitudinal study of alcohol consumption among adults in Victoria, Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tianhui Ke  1 , Michael Livingston  2   3 , Yanqin Zhang  1 , Damian Pavlyshyn  1 , Aimée Altermatt  1 , Alexander Thomas  1 , Thi Nguyen  1 , Shelley Walker  1   3   4 , Sophie Hill  5 , Alison Coelho  6 , Alisa Pedrana  1   4 , Mark Stoové  1   4 , Margaret Hellard  1   4   7   8 , Katherine B Gibney  9 , Anna L Wilkinson  1   4   7
Affiliations

A longitudinal study of alcohol consumption among adults in Victoria, Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tianhui Ke et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objectives: Whilst public health measures were effective in reducing COVID-19 transmission, unintended negative consequences may have occurred. This study aims to assess changes alcohol consumption and the heavy episodic drinking (HED) during the pandemic.

Methods: Data were from the Optimise Study, a longitudinal cohort of Australian adults September 2020-August 2022 that over-sampled priority populations at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, developing severe COVID-19 or experiencing adverse consequences of lockdowns. Frequency of alcohol consumption (mean number of days per week) and past-week HED were self-reported. Generalised linear models estimated the association between time and (1) the frequency of alcohol consumption and (2) heavy episodic drinking.

Results: Data from 688 participants (mean age: 44.7 years, SD:17.0; 72.7% female) and 10,957 surveys were included. Mean days of alcohol consumption per week decreased from 1.92 (SD: 1.92) in 2020 to 1.54 (SD:1.94) in 2022. The proportion of participants reporting HED decreased from 25.4% in 2020 to 13.1% in 2022. During two lockdown periods, known as "lockdown five", (OR:0.65, 95%CI [0.47,0.90]) and "lockdown six" (OR:0.76, 95%CI [0.67,0.87]), participants were less likely to report HED.

Conclusions: Participants alcohol drinking frequency and HED decreased during the pandemic. This study provides a strong description of alcohol consumption during the pandemic and suggests that lockdowns did not have the unintended consequences of increased alcohol consumption.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Participant flow chart.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Counts of follow-up surveys completed by Optimise participants, Victoria, Australia, N = 688 participants.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Counts of unique participants who completed a survey each month during October 2020 to August 2022, Optimise, Victoria, Australia, N = 10,957 surveys.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Frequency of alcohol consumption and proportion of heavy episodic drinking by month, October 2020 to August 2022, Optimise, Victoria, Australia, N = 688.
* Lockdown 2: 9th July 2020 – 27th October 2020, Lockdown 3: 13th Feb 2021 – 17th Feb 2021, Lockdown 4: 28th May 2021 – 10th June 2021, Lockdown 5: 16th July 2021 – 27th July 2021, Lockdown 6: 5th August 2021 – 21st October 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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