Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The COVID-19 pandemic, which brought a first order of stay home last March, as well as other stressors for adults in the U.S., such as job loss, are associated with changes in heavy drinking.
According to research published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse , heavy drinking can be defined as having five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women within two hours.
Thus, the study notes that 34 percent of respondents reported heavy drinking during the pandemic, while binge drinkers were more likely to increase their alcohol consumption compared to pre-pandemic - 60% - than non-binge drinkers - 28%.
After adjusting for sociodemographic data, the report reports that for every week's increase in the time people spent at home during the pandemic, there was a 1.21 greater likelihood of heavy drinking.
In turn, households with children were 0.74 less likely to drink excessively during the pandemic compared to households without children
In addition, those who reported a previous diagnosis of depression or depressive symptoms during the pandemic were more likely to drink heavily, compared to those who reported no previous diagnosis or depression during the pandemic.
It should be noted that the study collected data on sociodemographic factors, alcohol consumption and COVID-19-related stressors - household composition, employment status, length of stay at home and depression - through a web survey in the United States.
The research, carried out on 1,982 participants from March to mid-April 2020, used multivariate logistic and multinomial regression models to evaluate the associations between VOC-19-related stressors and excessive alcohol consumption.
Thus, the study also points out that the socio-economic level - NSE - of the sample was relatively high, where more than 70 percent of the respondents reported an annual income of more than $80,000, potentially indicating more disposable income.
Hazardous alcohol consumption has been associated with higher incomes, since in April 2020, Forbes reported that wine and liquor sales had increased by 55 percent in the United States.
The research concludes that specific stressors related to VOC-19 are associated with increased alcohol consumption, so the unintended and side effects of the VOC-19 pandemic could have lasting consequences for the health of the population.
