Accounting

Internal medicine

Business

Injury prevention

Audit

Social isolation

Disease

Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Poison control

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Pandemic

Outbreak

Psychiatry

Psychosocial

Psychology

Virology

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Alcohol

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Biochemistry

Medicine

Environmental health

Psychiatry Research

To determine whether the past half-year of COVID-19-related lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and social isolation were associated with changes in high-risk alcohol use, a total of 5,931 individuals completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) at one of six time points from April through September 2020. Over the 6-month period, hazardous alcohol use and likely dependence increased month-by-month for those under lockdowns compared to those not under restrictions. This increase in harmful alcohol use and related behaviors is likely to have prolonged adverse psychosocial, interpersonal, occupational, and health impacts as the world attempts to recover from the pandemic crisis.

Alcohol dependence during COVID-19 lockdowns