Several behavioral studies have revealed how people spend increasingly long time at home through Covid-19 pandemic lockouts. A new one reveals that excessive alcohol consumption in adults increased during this time.
(Producer image)
Published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Misuse, the revised study has found a correlation between harmful drinking among adults and their confinement in their homes.. Based on a study of about 2,000 over 18 in the U.S., the study concludes that alcohol consumption increased in adults in each week of fasting..
The restriction on excessive drinking was maintained at five or more drinks within two hours for men and four and more drinks for women in the same period.. The study found that heavy alcohol consumption (in excess of the stated limit) increased by approximately 19% for each week of ingestion.
“Spending more time at home is a lifelong burden of drinking and Covid-19 pandemics may have exacerbated this stress,” says Sitara Weerakoon, a PhD candidate from the University of Texas .
The report is in line with the findings that the numbers of people who drank too much alcohol were more than double that of people who did not drink too much (60% vs. 28%). Those who drank alcohol were specifically classified as those with depression or a history of the disease.
Reuters
The study
The aim of the research was to establish a link between Covid-19-induced stress factors and changes in alcohol consumption. For this, the researchers collected data from an online survey that completed 1,982 adults from mid-March to mid-April.
The average age of survey participants was 42. The study notes that all respondents had been locked up for an average of four weeks. As a result, they had spent an average of 21 hours a day at home as most had not left for work.
The researchers classified participants as binge drinkers, non-rag drinkers and non-drinkers. Other factors examined included lock-in time, adult or child company, current or previous depressive events, and work status at lock-in time.
(Representative image: Unsplash)
Among those who drank alcohol, 32% of participants reported overdose in pandemic. Non-rag drinkers consume about the same amount of alcohol as before they were locked up. In addition, those living with children in lockdown had reduced the amount (26%) of drinking.
However, the study had limitations. These included the fact that the survey data is self-reported, and that the questions did not appear at a time when the alcohol was consumed. In addition, approximately 70% of participants were classified as relatively high earners, a feature that is already associated with hazardous alcohol use.