GLOBAL NEWS: Busting myths on alcohol and COVID-19

The amount of heavy drinkers—men who consume five or more drinks any day or 15 or more per week, and women who consume four or more drinks any day or eight or more per week—also rose in 2022. Deaths from alcohol overconsumption are only further complicated by conditions like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease-particularly heart attacks and strokes-and liver damage. All health-care providers must be aware of the risk factors involved to prevent unnecessary deaths; screening for alcohol use in primary care settings, for example, is one way to do this. As countries struggle to contain COVID 19, and to rebuild economies and societies in the aftermath, careful thought needs to be given to how best to use limited resources to meet the needs for intervention and treatment relating to substance use. Investing in evidence-based treatment pays dividends (Glasner-Edwards et al., 2010) and estimates from Public Health England (2017) suggest that, at least in the UK, the net cost benefit ratio is 2.5–1.

6. Factors associated with substances other than alcohol

A surge of stress-related drinking and alcohol-related deaths brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has not tapered off the way Dr. Brian Lee, a transplant hepatologist at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, had hoped. According to several anecdotal reports, alcohol intolerance, which sun rock strain is characterized by reactions like nausea, low blood pressure, fatigue, and dizziness when consuming alcohol, may be a unique symptom of long COVID. Women also were more likely to be heavy drinkers, with 6.45% reporting as such, compared with 6.1% of men.

Role of funding source

While research on post-COVID alcohol intolerance is still limited, anecdotal evidence suggests that it’s a symptom experienced by many people following the virus. Two primary members of the study team independently screened articles by abstract and title based on the above criteria. Furthermore, a quantitative assessment of methodological quality was undertaken using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data (Munn et al., 2015). We did not include studies if they were deemed “high risk” and were deficient in more than five of the out of nine of the quality criteria or had a small sample size (i.e. less than 100 due to a high possibility of selection bias). Disagreements regarding the inclusion of papers were resolved through discussion and there was no unresolved conflict. Although evidence suggests substance and alcohol use may change during the Covid-19 pandemic there has been no full review of the evidence around this.

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Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, states tended to prioritize the economic concerns of restaurants and related businesses and may have inadvertently increased availability and access to alcohol. However, the public health data are conclusive that when states increase availability and access to alcohol, e.g., by adding more stores or extending days and hours of sale, then alcohol consumption and related harm also increase 34,35. This study demonstrates that over a third of participants reported that their alcohol consumption had increased due to increased availability of alcohol during COVID-19. States should consider such data when making decisions about the strength and severity of their alcohol laws during future public heath emergencies.

Psychotherapies use different methods to help a person understand and change their patterns of thinking and behavior. According to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine, out of 201 people with COVID-19-induced pneumonia, 41.8% developed ARDS. Drinking alcohol does not reduce the chance of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 or developing severe illness from COVID-19. It is possible for high concentrations of alcohol, such as 60–90%, to kill some forms of bacteria and viruses. Learn how NIH has improved basic understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and sped up the development of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and testing.

What Made Alcohol Consumption Rise?

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported that each year there are more than 178,000 deaths that are attributable to excessive alcohol use. Alcohol, the institute reported, is one of the leading preventable causes of death in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were alerted to the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. on 22 January 2020; the first reported death occurred on 29 February 2020 in Washington state 12,13. Due to concern over the contagiousness of COVID-19 and the harm suffered if contracted, the Washington governor declared a state of emergency that same day (29 February 2020) 14.

We spoke with George F. Koob, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), to learn about the pandemic’s effects on alcohol use and related harms. Koob is an expert on the biology of alcohol and drug addiction and has been studying the impact of alcohol on the brain for more than 50 years. He is a national leader in efforts to prevent and treat AUD and to educate people about risky alcohol use. A 2021 study found that people who drink at least once a week are more likely to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during COVID-19 hospitalization. This may be because alcohol use can weaken your immune system, making you more prone to infectious diseases.

1. The spread of the disease has necessitated quarantine or “lockdown” measures as the principal containment tool (Rubin and Wessely, 2020).
2. In fact, it is possible that excessive alcohol consumption can increase the risk of developing COVID-19-induced illness, as this can affect the immune system.
3. It does not reduce the risk of infection or the development of severe illness related to COVID-19.
4. While hand sanitizers containing 60-95% ethyl alcohol can help destroy the coronavirus on surfaces, drinking alcohol—including beverages with high percentages of alcohol—offers no protection from the virus.
5. While hand sanitizers containing 60-95% ethyl alcohol can help destroy the coronavirus on surfaces, drinking alcohol offers no protection from the virus.
6. For example, getting regular exercise and practicing stress reduction techniques can help reduce symptoms.

The increase in problematic use during the pandemic suggests that increasing targeted and evidence-based interventions will be important in the period which follows, both to improve the lives of individuals and families, and prevent additional costs to societies and health systems. Three studies specifically reported a negative effect of the epidemic on the use of substances (Czeisler et al., 2020, Gritsenko et al., 2020, Rogers et al., 2020). In general population US samples, an additional 5.0% started using cannabis, 5.6% started using stimulants and 5.6% opioids since the COVID-19 outbreak (Rogers et al., 2020). Likewise, 13.3% started or increased substance use (Czeisler et al., 2020). Equally, in Russia, those who reported substance use in the last month before COVID 19 reported their use increased as a COVID-19 consequence.