Alcohol Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey of US Adults

This report adheres to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guidelines. One theory suggests that the virus causing COVID-19 acts as a severe stressor, possibly affecting a part of the brain called the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). This could make the PVN extra sensitive to life’s stresses, causing fatigue and relapses similar to ME/CFS. This connection could provide insights into how long COVID might contribute to alcohol intolerance. This research was funded by the Montgomery County, Maryland Alcohol Beverage Services.

1. It’s also worth noting that the effects of alcohol — and a hangover — may be particularly unpleasant if you also have COVID-19 symptoms.
2. For example, alcohol can mix with ibuprofen or acetaminophen to cause stomach problems and liver damage.
3. In the lungs, for example, alcohol damages the immune cells and fine hairs that have the important job of clearing pathogens out of our airway.
4. No research suggests that you’ll develop long COVID if you drink alcohol while you have a COVID-19 infection.
5. The majority were female (84.4%), White (84.9%), between the ages of 26 and 49 (72.3%), and had a household income greater than $100,000 USD (67.0%) (Table 1).

Do some people have a higher risk for AUD triggered by events like the pandemic?

For example, antidepressants can treat the symptoms of depression in some people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people may experience higher levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. This may cause some people to consume more alcohol than they usually would. Researchers compared the number of alcohol-related deaths in 2019 against the number of similar deaths in 2020.

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Clinicians and population health managers should consider increasing screening efforts in this population. Policymakers should consider enhancing access to interventions including AUD treatment early in the disease process and closer collaboration with addiction clinicians and hepatologists. This study adds a novel, broad measure of acute decompensation of chronic alcohol-related diseases that might reflect alcohol consumption levels in the community, access to AUD treatment, and access to specialists such as hepatologists. Monitoring this measure could complement monitoring less common outcomes such as alcohol-related mortality, allowing identification of smaller, at-risk patient subgroups that require urgent and early interventions. Fitted and predicted rates were generated using unadjusted segmented regression. A, Complication episodes across all age groups comprise alcohol-related liver disease diagnoses representing acute decompensation of chronic alcohol-related diseases presenting to the emergency department, observation unit, or hospital.

Have researchers found any trends in alcohol-related deaths and health problems during the pandemic?

Treatment for long COVID, including symptoms like alcohol intolerance, typically involves a multidisciplinary approach aimed at managing specific symptoms and improving overall well-being. While research on alcohol intolerance post-COVID-19 is limited, numerous anecdotal reports suggest that alcohol intolerance could be a symptom of long COVID for some individuals. While not widely recognized as a symptom of long COVID due to limited research, alcohol intolerance has been reported by some individuals. According to several anecdotal reports, alcohol intolerance, which is characterized by reactions like nausea, low blood pressure, fatigue, and dizziness when consuming alcohol, may be a unique symptom solution based treatment and detox of long COVID. Several anecdotal reports suggest that alcohol intolerance may be linked to long COVID, specifically the post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) type. Those who have any of the known risk factors for COVID-19, like heart disease or diabetes, should drink even less.

The study used data from the National Health Interview Survey, administered by the US Census Bureau, and compared the data with 2018 as the baseline. The study included almost 25,000 respondents from 2018, about 31,000 from 2020 and almost 27,000 from 2022. New research, led by Lee and published November 12 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that a spike in alcohol consumption among people in the US in 2020 continued to rise slightly in 2021 and 2022. It does not reduce the risk of infection or the development of severe illness related to COVID-19. In more serious cases, mixing alcohol with medications can cause internal bleeding and organ problems. For example, alcohol can mix with ibuprofen or acetaminophen to cause stomach problems and liver damage.

Are you more likely to develop long COVID if you drink alcohol during an active infection?

While research on post-COVID alcohol intolerance is still limited, anecdotal evidence suggests that it’s a symptom experienced by many people following the virus. Chhatwal agreed, adding that life stressors like financial insecurity, work pressure or other mental health struggles may contribute to the rise in alcohol consumption. A surge of stress-related drinking and alcohol-related deaths brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic in the US has not tapered off the way Dr. Brian Lee, a transplant hepatologist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, had hoped. Fear and misinformation have generated a dangerous myth that consuming high-strength alcohol can kill the COVID-19 virus.

States should consider such data when making decisions about the strength and severity of their alcohol laws during future public heath emergencies. We’ve also seen more people end up in hospitals due to alcohol misuse and its consequences, including withdrawal symptoms and liver disease. People seeking liver transplants because of alcohol misuse are younger than ever, with many transplant centers reporting that some of their patients haven’t even reached the age of 30.

The institute considers a drink to be about 14 grams of pure alcohol, which equates to about 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. Women also were more likely to be heavy drinkers, with 6.45% reporting as such, compared with 6.1% of men. White Americans had the highest change in being heavy drinkers, with roughly 7.3% claiming to be heavy drinkers, an increase from about 5.7% in 2018 and 7.1% in 2020.

A rolling cohort of people 15 years and older who had at least 6 months of continuous commercial or Medicare Advantage coverage were included. Unfortunately, the U.S. healthcare system is already overwhelmed due to COVID-19 32. Yet a review of emergency department (ED) visits in a large Midwest U.S. healthcare system found that the number of alcohol-related complaints, as a percentage of total behavioral health ED visits, increased from 28.2% to 33.5% 33. The increase in alcohol consumption observed in this study is concerning as the already strained U.S. healthcare system may not be able to continue responding to people who have alcohol-related emergencies.

More restaurants and bars started selling alcohol for off-site consumption. Many policy changes and trends are likely to continue long after the pandemic ends, increasing the risk of alcohol-related problems. The effects of the pandemic on alcohol-related problems have not been the same for everyone, though. One example is an NIAAA-supported study showing that fewer college students had AUD symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. While one preprint study suggests that alcohol intolerance is a common symptom of long COVID, there’s very little research on the topic.

Also, during the period of shelter-in-place orders, children may have been exposed to unhealthy behaviors related to alcohol use. This could influence their future risk for problem drinking, AUD, and health problems related to alcohol use. However, if you’re physically dependent on alcohol or drink heavily, stopping drinking without medical supervision may be dangerous. Consult a healthcare professional about whether you can drink alcohol while using these medications. For example, some research suggests that poor sleep can make long COVID worse, and difficulty sleeping is a common side effect of drinking alcohol.