The early impact of COVID-19 on the incidence, prevalence, and severity of alcohol use and other drugs: A systematic review

Rose A Schmidt; Rosalie Genois; Jonathan Jin; Daniel Vigo; Jürgen Rehm; Brian Rush

doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109065

The early impact of COVID-19 on the incidence, prevalence, and severity of alcohol use and other drugs: A systematic review

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021 Nov 1:228:109065. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109065. Epub 2021 Sep 22.

Authors

Rose A Schmidt¹, Rosalie Genois², Jonathan Jin³, Daniel Vigo⁴, Jürgen Rehm⁵, Brian Rush⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON M5T 2S1, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada. Electronic address: Ra.schmidt@mail.utoronto.ca.
² Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boulevard de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada. Electronic address: Rosalie.genois@usherbrooke.ca.
³ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON M5T 2S1, Canada. Electronic address: Jonathan.jin@camh.ca.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, 2255 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A1, Canada. Electronic address: daniel.vigo@ubc.ca.
⁵ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON M5T 2S1, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada; Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy & Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS), Technische Universität Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 46, 01187 Dresden, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, 8th Floor, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON M5T 2S1, Canada; Department of International Health Projects, Institute for Leadership and Health Management, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Trubetskaya str., 8, b. 2, 119992 Moscow, Russian Federation; Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, 81-95 Roc Boronat St., 08005 Barcelona, Spain; Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research (ZIS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: Jurgen.rehm@camh.ca.
⁶ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON M5T 2S1, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON M5T 2S1, Canada. Electronic address: Brian.Rush@camh.ca.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this paper was to examine the early impact of COVID-19 on substance use to assess implications for planning substance use treatment and support systems.

Method: A systematic review of literature published up to March 2021 was conducted to summarize changes in prevalence, incidence, and severity of substance use associated with COVID-19 and the accompanying public health measures, including lockdown, stay-at-home orders, and social distancing.

Results: We identified 53 papers describing changes to substance use at the population level. The majority of papers described changes related to alcohol use and most relied on self-reported measures of consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with pre-pandemic use. There was less evidence to support changes in non-alcohol substance use. In general, risky pre-pandemic alcohol use, caregiving responsibilities, stress, depression, anxiety, and current treatment for a mental disorder were found to be associated with increased substance use.

Conclusion: This review provides preliminary data on changes in substance use, indicating that certain segments of the population increased their alcohol use early on in the COVID-19 pandemic and may be at greater risk of harm and in need of additional services. There is a need for additional population-level information on substance use to inform evidence-based rapid responses from a treatment system perspective.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health services needs and demand; Pandemics; Prevalence; Substance-related disorders; Systematic review.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Communicable Disease Control
Humans
Incidence
Pandemics
Pharmaceutical Preparations*
Prevalence
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Pharmaceutical Preparations