SynthesisDrug and alcohol dependence2021
The early impact of COVID-19 on the incidence, prevalence, and severity of alcohol use and other drugs: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 101 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
101 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 164 citations in OpenAlex.
- Alcohol's Effects on the Lung and Lung Disease.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Changes in the prevalence of mental health problems during the first year of the pandemic: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.BMJ mental health · 2024Pooled it
- Disruption of circadian rhythms promotes alcohol use: a systematic review.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2024Pooled it
- Changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe: A meta-analysis of observational studies.Drug and alcohol review · 2022Pooled it
- Changes in alcohol use during COVID-19 and associations with contextual and individual difference variables: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2022Pooled it
- Rethinking mental disorders in COVID-19: evidence from prepandemic longitudinal data.Current opinion in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Article
- Living Alone as a Persistent Risk Factor for Smoking and High-Risk Drinking: A Three-Year Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Republic of Korea.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Using Routinely Collected Data From the Network of Alcohol and Other Drugs Agencies Database to Evaluate the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Trends in Service Delivery in Outpatient Non-Government Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Observational
- Within-person change in alcohol consumption and associated factors during a public health crisis.BMC public health · 2026Article
- A spatial analysis of the associations between housing eviction and alcohol-related hospitalizations in Pennsylvania.Health & place · 2026Article
- Impact of impaired endogenous neurosteroidogenesis on outcomes following chronic alcohol exposure.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Societal values versus individual rights with respect to public health related practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.PloS one · 2026Article
- Can alcohol use explain the increase in educational inequalities in all-cause mortality after 2010 in the USA? A three-way interaction analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Regional, demographic, and temporal trends in psychoactive substance use-related mental disorder and cancer mortality in U.S. adults: a nationwide CDC WONDER analysis (1999-2020).Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- COVID-19 pandemic-related stress and substance use behaviors among people with HIV - a mixed method analysis.PloS one · 2026Article
- Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment Utilisation During the Coronavirus Pandemic in Hamburg, Germany.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Factors influencing complete abstinence during Thailand's temporary alcohol abstinence campaign.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Adolescent social isolation associated changes in ethanol-induced dopamine regulation in the ventral pallidum.Addiction neuroscience · 2025Article
- Quality of life and the associated factors among postmenopausal women during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Article
41 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe 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.
methodA 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.
resultsWe 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.
conclusionThis 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.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.