Cargando…

Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had considerable behavioral health implications globally. One subgroup that may be of particular concern is U.S. veterans, who are susceptible to mental health and substance use concerns. The current study aimed to investigate changes in alcohol use and binge dr...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Davis, Jordan P., Prindle, John, Castro, Carl C., Saba, Shaddy, Fitzke, Reagan E., Pedersen, Eric R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier Ltd. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8381728/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34284311
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107052
_version_ 1783741426322898944
author Davis, Jordan P.
Prindle, John
Castro, Carl C.
Saba, Shaddy
Fitzke, Reagan E.
Pedersen, Eric R.
author_facet Davis, Jordan P.
Prindle, John
Castro, Carl C.
Saba, Shaddy
Fitzke, Reagan E.
Pedersen, Eric R.
author_sort Davis, Jordan P.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had considerable behavioral health implications globally. One subgroup that may be of particular concern is U.S. veterans, who are susceptible to mental health and substance use concerns. The current study aimed to investigate changes in alcohol use and binge drinking before and during the first year of the pandemic among U.S. veterans, and how pre-pandemic mental health disorders, namely posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and COVID-19-related factors like loneliness, negative reactions to COVID-19, and economic hardship influenced alcohol use trends. METHODS: 1230 veterans were recruited in February 2020 as part of a larger survey study on veteran health behaviors. Veterans were asked to complete follow-up assessments throughout the pandemic at 6, 9, and 12- months. RESULTS: Overall, veterans reported a significant decrease in alcohol use (IRR = 0.98) and binge drinking (IRR = 0.11) However, women, racial/ethnic minority veterans, and those with pre-existing PTSD exhibited smaller decreases in alcohol use and binge drinking and overall higher rates of use compared to men, White veterans, and those without PTSD. Both economic hardship and negative reactions to COVID-19 were associated with greater alcohol and binge drinking whereas loneliness showed a negative association with alcohol use and binge drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Veterans reported decreases in alcohol use and binge drinking throughout the pandemic, with heterogeneity in these outcomes noted for higher risk groups. Special research and clinical attention should be given to the behavioral health care needs of veterans in the post-pandemic period.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8381728
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Elsevier Ltd.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-83817282022-11-01 Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans Davis, Jordan P. Prindle, John Castro, Carl C. Saba, Shaddy Fitzke, Reagan E. Pedersen, Eric R. Addict Behav Article BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had considerable behavioral health implications globally. One subgroup that may be of particular concern is U.S. veterans, who are susceptible to mental health and substance use concerns. The current study aimed to investigate changes in alcohol use and binge drinking before and during the first year of the pandemic among U.S. veterans, and how pre-pandemic mental health disorders, namely posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and COVID-19-related factors like loneliness, negative reactions to COVID-19, and economic hardship influenced alcohol use trends. METHODS: 1230 veterans were recruited in February 2020 as part of a larger survey study on veteran health behaviors. Veterans were asked to complete follow-up assessments throughout the pandemic at 6, 9, and 12- months. RESULTS: Overall, veterans reported a significant decrease in alcohol use (IRR = 0.98) and binge drinking (IRR = 0.11) However, women, racial/ethnic minority veterans, and those with pre-existing PTSD exhibited smaller decreases in alcohol use and binge drinking and overall higher rates of use compared to men, White veterans, and those without PTSD. Both economic hardship and negative reactions to COVID-19 were associated with greater alcohol and binge drinking whereas loneliness showed a negative association with alcohol use and binge drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Veterans reported decreases in alcohol use and binge drinking throughout the pandemic, with heterogeneity in these outcomes noted for higher risk groups. Special research and clinical attention should be given to the behavioral health care needs of veterans in the post-pandemic period. Elsevier Ltd. 2021-11 2021-07-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8381728/ /pubmed/34284311 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107052 Text en © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Davis, Jordan P.
Prindle, John
Castro, Carl C.
Saba, Shaddy
Fitzke, Reagan E.
Pedersen, Eric R.
Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans
title Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans
title_full Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans
title_fullStr Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans
title_full_unstemmed Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans
title_short Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among American veterans
title_sort changes in alcohol use during the covid-19 pandemic among american veterans
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8381728/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34284311
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107052
work_keys_str_mv AT davisjordanp changesinalcoholuseduringthecovid19pandemicamongamericanveterans
AT prindlejohn changesinalcoholuseduringthecovid19pandemicamongamericanveterans
AT castrocarlc changesinalcoholuseduringthecovid19pandemicamongamericanveterans
AT sabashaddy changesinalcoholuseduringthecovid19pandemicamongamericanveterans
AT fitzkereagane changesinalcoholuseduringthecovid19pandemicamongamericanveterans
AT pedersenericr changesinalcoholuseduringthecovid19pandemicamongamericanveterans