Longitudinal factors associated with increased alcohol consumption in adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Alcohol is the most abused substance among adults in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted patterns of alcohol use, but data are conflicting, and previous studies are largely limited to cross-sectional analyses.Objective: This study aimed to longitudinally assess sociodemographic and psychological correlates of changes in three patterns of alcohol use (number of alcoholic drinks, drinking regularity, and binge drinking) during COVID-19.Methods: We studied changes in self-reported drinking behaviors in 222,195 Mayo Clinic patients over 21 years of age (58.1% female and 41.9% male) between April 1, 2019, and March 30, 2021. Logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between patient characteristics and change in alcohol consumption.Results: Sociodemographically younger age, White race, having a college degree, and living in a rural area were associated with increased alcohol use regularity (all p < .05). Younger age, male, White, high-school education or less, living in a more deprived neighborhood, smoking, and living in a rural area were associated with increases in number of alcohol drinks (all p ≤ .04) and binge drinking (all p ≤ .01). Increased anxiety scores were associated with increased number of drinks, while depression severity was associated with both increased drinking regularity and increased number of drinks (all p ≤ .02) independent of sociodemographic characteristics.Conclusion: Our study showed that both sociodemographic and psychological characteristics were associated with increased alcohol consumption patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study highlights specific target groups previously not described in the literature for alcohol interventions based on sociodemographic and psychological characteristics.