Abstract
Background: South Africa has a high prevalence of heavy episodic drinking (HED). Due to the high levels of alcohol misuse and violence, public hospital intensive care units were often overrun during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research investigated alcohol intake behaviour change during differing levels of lockdown restrictions, which included bans on alcohol sales. Methods: A self-reported Facebook survey ran from July to November 2020. The questions included socio-demographics, income, alcohol intake, purchasing behaviour, and reasoning. Chi-square tests/Fisher’s exact test for categorical data, Student’s t-test for normal continuous data, and the Mann–Whitney U test for non-normal data were applied. Multiple logistic regression was run for HED versus moderate drinkers. Results: A total of 798 participants took part in the survey, of which 68.4% were female. Nearly 50% of participants fell into the HED category and the majority bought alcohol illegally during restrictions. HED respondents who drank more alcohol than usual during restrictions reported that they felt stressed, needed to relax, and were bored. Conclusions: Policies intended to increase the pricing of alcohol may have the potential to reduce alcohol intake. Reducing stress and anxiety may be key to curtailing HED during emergency situations.
Highlights
South Africa has a high prevalence of heavy episodic drinking (HED)
This research aimed to investigate the socio-demographic profile of participants, their alcohol intake behavioural changes during differing levels of lockdown restrictions, and factors linked to HED during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa (SA)
De Man et al (2021) [6] and the results found in the Facebook survey in mind, people suffering with HED may be more prone to consuming greater amounts of alcohol during mentally challenging periods such as the emergency lockdown measures of 2020, due to feeling stressed and anxious
Summary
This research aimed to investigate the socio-demographic profile of participants, their alcohol intake behavioural changes during differing levels of lockdown restrictions, and factors linked to HED during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic in SA. This research aimed to describe changes in drinking patterns and reasons given for these changes, investigating the disparities between heavy episodic drinkers and moderate drinkers
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