ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2022
The impact of changes in COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on alcohol consumption and drinking occasion characteristics in Scotland and England in 2020: an interrupted time-series analysis.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interrupted time series datasets from studies investigating the impact of interventions or exposures in public health and social science: a data note.BMC research notes · 2025Pooled it
- Psychosocial factors associated with alcohol use in lower socioeconomic position populations: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Current and future trends in the consumption, sale and purchasing of alcohol-free and low-alcohol products in Great Britain, 2014 to 2023.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Alcohol use and COVID-19: three-year impact for the Czech Republic.Central European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Trends in Public Awareness and Knowledge of Drinking Guidelines: a Representative Population Survey in England, 2016-2022.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2023Article
- When asking 'are you stressed?' is not enough: Hair cortisol, subjective stress, and alcohol use during the first year of the pandemic.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Hangover-Related Internet Searches Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in England: Observational Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- UK alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of drinking motives, employment and subjective mental health.PloS one · 2023Article
- COVID-19 pandemic impact on ocular trauma in a tertiary hospital.International journal of ophthalmology · 2023Article
- The Effect of the First UK COVID-19 Lockdown on Users of the Drink Less App: Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Sociodemographic Characteristics, Engagement, and Alcohol Reduction.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Health behaviour change among UK adults during the pandemic: findings from the COVID-19 cancer attitudes and behaviours study.BMC public health · 2022Observational
- The impact of changes in COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on alcohol consumption and drinking occasion characteristics in Scotland and England in 2020: an interrupted time-series analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsEarly evidence suggests that COVID-19 lockdown restrictions affect alcohol consumption. However, existing studies lack data on how drinking practices changed as restrictions disrupted people's work, family life and socializing routines. We examined changes in consumption and drinking occasion characteristics during three periods of changing restrictions in Scotland/England.
designInterrupted time-series analysis of repeat cross-sectional market research data (assessing step-level changes).
settingScotland/England, January 2009-December 2020.
participantsScotland: 41 507 adult drinkers; England: 253 148 adult drinkers. MEASUREMENTS: Three intervention points: March 2020 lockdown, July 2020 easing of restrictions and October 2020 re-introduction of some restrictions. PRIMARY OUTCOME: mean units consumed per week (total/off-trade/on-trade; 1 unit = 8 g ethanol). SECONDARY OUTCOMES: drinking > 14 units per week, heavy drinking, drinking days per week, solitary drinking, drinking with family/partners, drinking with friends/colleagues, own-home drinking, drinking in someone else's home and drinking start times.
findingsIn Scotland, March 2020's lockdown was associated with a 2.32 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.61, 4.02] increase in off-trade (i.e. shop-bought) units per week, a -2.84 (95% CI = -3.63, -2.06) decrease in on-trade (i.e. licensed venues) units per week, but no statistically significant change in total units per week. July 2020's easing of restrictions was associated with a 1.33 (95% CI = 0.05, 2.62) increase in on-trade units per week, but no statistically significant total/off-trade consumption changes. October 2020's re-introduction of some restrictions was not associated with statistically significant consumption changes. Results for England were broadly similar. Lockdown restrictions were also associated with later drinking start times, fewer occasions in someone else's home and with friends/colleagues, more own-home drinking and (in Scotland only) more solitary drinking.
conclusionsReductions in on-trade alcohol consumption following COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Scotland/England in 2020 were mainly offset by increased own-home drinking. This largely persisted in periods of greater/lesser restrictions. The shift towards off-trade drinking involved significant changes in the characteristics of drinking occasions.
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.