Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37327903›Full record

ArticleThe Science of the total environment2023

Assessing the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on alcohol consumption in Melbourne, Australia using high-resolution wastewater sampling.

Shuo Chen, Richard Bade, Ben Tscharke, Wayne Hall, Michael Livingston, Phong Thai, Chang He, Qiuda Zheng, Nick Crosbie, Jochen Mueller

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The Science of the total environment, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Shuo ChenQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia. Electronic address: shuo.chen@uq.edu.au.
Richard BadeQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
Ben TscharkeQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
Wayne HallQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia; National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia.
Michael LivingstonCentre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
Phong ThaiQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
Chang HeQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
Qiuda ZhengQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
Nick CrosbieMelbourne Water, Melbourne, Australia.
Jochen MuellerQueensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions on alcohol consumption in Australia remains unclear. High-resolution daily samples from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) which served one of the largest cities in Australia, Melbourne, were analysed for temporal trends in alcohol consumption under extended periods of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020. Melbourne experienced two major lockdowns in 2020, which divided the year of 2020 into five periods (pre-lockdown, first lockdown, between lockdown, second lockdown and post second-lockdown). In this study, daily sampling identified shifts in alcohol consumption during different periods of restrictions. Alcohol consumption in the first lockdown period, when bars closed and social and sports events ceased, was lower than pre-lockdown period. However, alcohol consumption was higher in the second lockdown period than the previous lockdown period. There were spikes in alcohol consumption at the start and end of each lockdown (except for post lockdown). For most of 2020, the usual weekday-weekend variations in alcohol consumption were less evident but there was a significant difference in alcohol consumption between weekdays and weekends after the second lockdown. This suggests that drinking patterns eventually returned to normal after the end of the second lockdown. This study demonstrates the usefulness of high-resolution wastewater sampling in evaluating the effects on alcohol consumption of social interventions in specific temporal locations.

Indexed as

COVID-19WastewaterAlcohol DrinkingAustraliaCommunicable Disease ControlHumansPandemicsWastewater

Identifiers

PMID37327903
PMCPMC10264323

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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.