ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Changes in Drug Use Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Monitoring a Vulnerable Group by Hair Analysis.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trauma led us to substance use: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of refugee youth experiences with substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitalization rate, clinical impairment and mortality of cirrhotic patients.Internal and emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Is there a relationship between abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs seen in hair results?Drug testing and analysis · 2025Article
- The trend of poisonings before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The rising use of cognitive enhancement drugs and predictors of use during COVID-19: findings from a cross-sectional survey of students and university staff in the UK.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The Adverse Effects and Nonmedical Use of Methylphenidate Before and After the Outbreak of COVID-19: Machine Learning Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Long-Term Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Drug/Alcohol Use Prevalence in a Population with Substance Use Disorders.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Alcohol and Drug Consumption among Drivers before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Observational Study.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2023Article
- Selective Changes in Medical Cannabis Use Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a Web-Based Sample of Adults in the United States.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2023Article
- A Scoping Review on the Medical and Recreational Use of Cannabis During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2022Article
- Changes in the Care Activity in Addiction Centers with Dual Pathology Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- The Pattern of Substance Use among People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) Receiving Treatment at University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Associated Factors.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Temporal monitoring of stimulants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium through the analysis of influent wastewater.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- COVID-19 Lockdowns-Effect on Concentration of Pharmaceuticals and Illicit Drugs in Two Major Croatian Rivers.Toxics · 2022Article
- Patterns of Prescription Medicine, Illicit Drugs, and Alcohol Misuse among High-Risk Population: A Factor Analysis to Delineate Profiles of Polydrug Users.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Substance use disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic: looking for new innovative approaches.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2022Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Drug Use Behaviors, Fentanyl Exposure, and Harm Reduction Service Support among People Who Use Drugs in Rural Settings.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Patterns and motivations of polysubstance use: a rapid review of the qualitative evidence.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2022Review
- Substance Use in Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latin America: A Systematic Review and a Call for Reports.Substance abuse : research and treatment · 2022Review
- COVID-19 Lockdown and Consumption Patterns among Substance Use Disorder Outpatients: A Multicentre Study.European addiction research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
From 22 March until 18 May 2020, a complete lockdown in Italy was ordered as a countermeasure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Social isolation measures affect some populations more than others, and people with drug and/or alcohol disorders (SUDs) are more likely to be adversely affected. This study presents, for the first time, laboratory data on the use of alcohol and drugs in a high-risk population during Italy's first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty subjects with SUDs were monitored for the use of illicit drugs and alcohol every 3 months before, during and after the lockdown, by hair analysis. The number of samples positive for heroin, cocaine, MDMA and cannabis fell considerably during the lockdown and then resumed to pre-lockdown levels when the period of confinement was over. Interestingly, the consumption of benzodiazepines and alcohol followed the opposite trend; both the number of benzodiazepine-positive samples and the level of alcohol consumption increased and remained high, even at the end of the lockdown. The confinement measures produced significant changes in drug/alcohol use patterns, with a shift toward the use of substances that were more easily accessible, used as self-medication for negative feelings, and used to alleviate the effects of abstinence from drugs that were no longer readily available.
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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.