Pamela Cruz. Pen sula 360 Press [P360P].
The COVID-19 pandemic, which brought with it a first stay-at-home order 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, binge drinking can be defined as having five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women within a two-hour period.
As the study found, 34 percent of respondents reported binge drinking during the pandemic, while binge drinkers were more likely to increase their alcohol consumption compared to before the pandemic (60% vs. 39%, respectively) than non-binge drinkers (28% vs. 39%).
After adjusting for sociodemographic data, the report found that for every one-week increase in the time people spent at home during the pandemic, there was a 1.21 greater likelihood of binge drinking.
For their part, households with neither are 0.74 less likely to drink excessively during the pandemic compared to households without neither.
Additionally, those who reported a prior diagnosis of depression during the pandemic were more likely to engage in heavy drinking, compared to those who reported no prior 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-based survey in the US.
The study, conducted on 1,982 participants from March to mid-April 2020, used multivariable logistic and multinomial regression models to assess associations between COVID-19-related stressors and heavy alcohol consumption.
Thus, the study also found that the socioeconomic level "NSE" of the sample was relatively high, with more than 70 percent of respondents reporting an annual income of more than $80 thousand, potentially indicating more disposable income.
And hazardous drinking has been associated with higher incomes, as in April 2020, Forbes reported that wine and spirits sales had increased by 55 percent in the United States.
The research concludes that specific stressors related to COVID-19 are associated with increased alcohol consumption, so the secondary and unwanted effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may have long-lasting consequences for population health.
