Analysis of Clinical Parameters, Drug Consumption and Use of Health Resources in a Southern European Population with Alcohol Abuse Disorder during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Ana Lear-Claveras,Ana Clavería,Sabela Couso-Viana,Bárbara Oliván-Blázquez,Beatriz González-Álvarez

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031358

Abstract

The disruption in healthcare attention to people with alcohol dependence, along with psychological decompensation as a consequence of lockdown derived from the COVID-19 pandemic could have a negative impact on people who suffer from alcohol abuse disorder. Observational real world data pre-post study included 9966 men aged >16 years registered as having the diagnosis of alcohol abuse disorder in the electronic medical records (EMR) of the Aragon Regional Health Service (Spain). Clinical (Glutamate-oxaloacetate -GOT-, Glutamate pyruvate -GPT-, creatinine, glomerular filtration, systolic blood pressure -SBP-, diastolic blood pressure -DBP-, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and body mass index -BMI-), pharmacological (dose per inhabitant per day, DHD, of drugs used in addictive disorders, benzodiazepines and antidepressants) and health resource use variables (primary and specialized care) were considered. A Student’s t-test for matched samples was performed to analyze the changes in clinical variables between alcohol abuse disorder patients with and without COVID-19. Only creatinine and LDL showed a significant but clinically irrelevant change six months after the end of the strict lockdown. The total number of DHDs for all drugs included in the study (except for benzodiazepines), decreased. In the same way, the use of health services by these patients also decreased. The impact of COVID-19 among this group of patients has been moderate. The reorganization of health and social services after the declaration of the state of alarm in our country made possible the maintenance of care for this vulnerable population.

Highlights

The COVID-19 outbreak caused an unprecedented public health crisis around the world [1]
Six months before the start of the lockdown, 9576 men over 16 years of age in Aragon had a diagnosis of alcohol abuse in their electronic medical records (EMR). 9184 (95.9%) did not become infected with
39 cases were declared during the months of lockdown and 351 in the six months after its end

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 outbreak caused an unprecedented public health crisis around the world [1]. The declaration of the coronavirus disease as a pandemic in March 2020, and its dramatic development thereafter, exposed the world population [2], especially at the beginning of the pandemic, to stressful situations [3]. In the case of Spain, the government declared a state of national emergency on 15 March 2020, forcing citizens to confine themselves to their homes until 3 May [4]. These measures, which were required to slow the spread of the virus, seem to have had a significant impact on the physical and mental health of the population [5].

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