The early impact of COVID-19 on the incidence, prevalence, and severity of alcohol use and other drugs: A systematic review

TY - JOUR

T1 - The early impact of COVID-19 on the incidence, prevalence, and severity of alcohol use and other drugs: A systematic review

AU - Schmidt, Rose A

AU - Genois, Rosalie

AU - Jin, Jonathan

AU - Vigo, Daniel

AU - Rehm, Jürgen

AU - Rush, Brian

N1 - Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/11/1

Y1 - 2021/11/1

N2 - BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper was to examine the early impact of COVID-19 on substance use to assess implications for planning substance use treatment and support systems.METHOD: A systematic review of literature published up to March 2021 was conducted to summarize changes in prevalence, incidence, and severity of substance use associated with COVID-19 and the accompanying public health measures, including lockdown, stay-at-home orders, and social distancing.RESULTS: We identified 53 papers describing changes to substance use at the population level. The majority of papers described changes related to alcohol use and most relied on self-reported measures of consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with pre-pandemic use. There was less evidence to support changes in non-alcohol substance use. In general, risky pre-pandemic alcohol use, caregiving responsibilities, stress, depression, anxiety, and current treatment for a mental disorder were found to be associated with increased substance use.CONCLUSION: This review provides preliminary data on changes in substance use, indicating that certain segments of the population increased their alcohol use early on in the COVID-19 pandemic and may be at greater risk of harm and in need of additional services. There is a need for additional population-level information on substance use to inform evidence-based rapid responses from a treatment system perspective.

AB - BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper was to examine the early impact of COVID-19 on substance use to assess implications for planning substance use treatment and support systems.METHOD: A systematic review of literature published up to March 2021 was conducted to summarize changes in prevalence, incidence, and severity of substance use associated with COVID-19 and the accompanying public health measures, including lockdown, stay-at-home orders, and social distancing.RESULTS: We identified 53 papers describing changes to substance use at the population level. The majority of papers described changes related to alcohol use and most relied on self-reported measures of consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with pre-pandemic use. There was less evidence to support changes in non-alcohol substance use. In general, risky pre-pandemic alcohol use, caregiving responsibilities, stress, depression, anxiety, and current treatment for a mental disorder were found to be associated with increased substance use.CONCLUSION: This review provides preliminary data on changes in substance use, indicating that certain segments of the population increased their alcohol use early on in the COVID-19 pandemic and may be at greater risk of harm and in need of additional services. There is a need for additional population-level information on substance use to inform evidence-based rapid responses from a treatment system perspective.

KW - COVID-19

KW - Communicable Disease Control

KW - Humans

KW - Incidence

KW - Pandemics

KW - Pharmaceutical Preparations

KW - Prevalence

KW - SARS-CoV-2

U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109065

DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109065

M3 - SCORING: Review article

C2 - 34600257

VL - 228

JO - DRUG ALCOHOL DEPEN

JF - DRUG ALCOHOL DEPEN

SN - 0376-8716

M1 - 109065

ER -