Increase in alcohol use during pandemic persisted through 2022
Compared with 2018, the National Health Interview Survey from 2020 and 2022 showed statistically significant increases in any alcohol use and heavy alcohol use in 2020 and 2022, a study found, leading its authors to call for increased screening for harmful drinking.
The increased alcohol use seen during the COVID-19 pandemic was sustained afterward, a study found.
Researchers studied data from the 2020 and 2022 National Health Interview Survey to determine if increased alcohol use during the pandemic (2020 vs. 2018) was sustained. The survey collected alcohol use information as well as demographic, socioeconomic, and health data for more than 24,000 adults ages 18 years or older. Adults were categorized as having any alcohol or heavy alcohol use within a year of the survey, with heavy drinking defined as five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more drinks per week for men and four or more drinks on any day or eight or more drinks per week for women. The findings were published by Annals of Internal Medicine on Nov. 12.
Overall, 24,965 respondents from 2018, 30,829 from 2020, and 26,806 from 2022 were included in the study. Compared with 2018, there were absolute increases in any alcohol use in 2020 (2.69% [95% CI, 1.28% to 4.10%]) and 2022 (2.96% [CI, 1.58% to 4.33%]), and this was true among all subgroups. Compared with 2018, there were also absolute increases in heavy alcohol use in 2020 (1.03% [95% CI, 0.55% to 1.51%]) and 2022 (1.18% [95% CI, 0.70% to 1.67%]), and this was true among all subgroups except among American Indians and Asians in 2022.
Pandemic stress and disrupted access to medical services are potential causes of the sustained increase, the study authors wrote. They called for increased screening for harmful drinking with systematic integration and rapid linkage to behavioral health treatments by health care professionals, in tandem with community-based interventions for at-risk populations.
“Our results provide national data to draw further attention to the potential alcohol-related public health effects that may remain from the pandemic,” the authors wrote. “Our study suggests that these increases persisted in 2022 and that certain subgroups may have had greater increases in heavy alcohol use. … Close follow-up is needed to determine whether increases in heavy alcohol use persist.”