ArticleThe American journal on addictions2020
Brief Report: Increased Addictive Internet and Substance Use Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China.
Article in The American journal on addictions, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 202 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
202 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 495 citations in OpenAlex.
- Problematic Media Use among Children up to the Age of 10: A Systematic Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on snacking habits, fast-food and alcohol consumption: A systematic review of the evidence.Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on haemorrhagic stroke admissions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2021Pooled it
- Alcohol and other substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Pooled it
- The effect of smoking on COVID-19 severity: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of medical virology · 2021Pooled it
- Suicide during COVID-19 and other major international respiratory outbreaks: A systematic review.Asian journal of psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Social consequences of mass quarantine during epidemics: a systematic review with implications for the COVID-19 response.Journal of travel medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Mental health services for infectious disease outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review.Psychological medicine · 2020Pooled it
- The Effect of Digital Addiction Training on University Students' Digital Addiction, Sleep Quality, and Orexin-A Levels: Randomized Controlled Trial.BMC psychology · 2025Trial
- Examining changes in pain interference via pandemic-induced isolation among patients receiving medication for opioid use disorder: a secondary data analysis.BMC public health · 2024Trial
- Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Intervention in Preventing Gaming Disorder and Unspecified Internet Use Disorder in Adolescents: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Understanding Emerging Adult Workers' Problematic Internet Use Before and During the Coronavirus Pandemic: Roles of Personality Traits, Online Activities, and Mental Health Symptoms.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2026Article
- Post-earthquake traumatic stress and future time perspective: the indirect roles of problematic social media use and doomscrolling.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Turkish medical students' perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of telemedicine: scale development and psychometric evaluation.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Article
- A Narrative Review of Digital Addiction and Health: A New Challenge for Modern Medicine.Cureus · 2025Review
- The (un-)Social Brain in Isolation.Physiological research · 2025Review
- Parietal Alpha Asymmetry as a Correlate of Internet Use Severity in Healthy Adults.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Interaction effect of age and axial length-to-corneal radius ratio on myopia in children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study in China.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
142 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic and control measures may have increased the risk of abusing addictive substances as well as addictive behaviors.
methodsWe present an initial online survey in 6416 Chinese about the relation between the COVID-19 pandemic and addictive behavior in China.
resultsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, 46.8% of the subjects reported increased dependence on internet use, and 16.6% had longer hours of internet use. The prevalence (4.3%) of severe internet dependence rose up to 23% than that (3.5%) before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, and their dependence degree rose 20 times more often than being declined (60% vs 3%). Relapses to abuse from alcohol and smoking abstinence were relatively common at 19% and 25%, respectively. Similarly, 32% of regular alcohol drinkers and 20% of regular smokers increased their usage amount during the pandemic. CONCLUSION AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: These three coping behaviors (internet, alcohol, and smoking) during this COVID-19-related crisis appear to have increased the risk for substance use disorders and internet addiction. (Am J Addict 2020;00:00-00).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.