Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37584629›Full record

ArticleHealth promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice2023

Heavy episodic drinking and self-reported increased alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic: a spotlight on frontline and essential workers in Canada.

Melanie Varin, Jeyasakthi Venugopal, Le Li, Kate Hill MacEachern, Murray Weeks, Melissa M Baker, Anne-Marie Lowe

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
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

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

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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

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Melanie VarinPublic Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Jeyasakthi VenugopalPublic Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Le LiPublic Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Kate Hill MacEachernInstitut Atlas pour les vétérans et leur famille, Ottawa (Ontario), Canada.
Murray WeeksPublic Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Melissa M BakerHelen Keller International, Nairobi, Kenya.
Anne-Marie LowePublic Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Public Health Agency of Canada · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThere is evidence that some frontline and essential workers have increased their alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, this has not been examined in Canada.

methodsUsing the Survey on COVID-19 and Mental Health 2020, weighted prevalence and 95% confidence intervals of self-reported increased alcohol consumption and heavy episodic drinking were calculated for each of the population groups: frontline workers, essential workers, and nonfrontline or essential workers (NFEW). Logistic regression was used to examine the associations between social determinants of health, mental health and alcohol use for each group.

resultsThe prevalence of increased alcohol consumption and past-month heavy episodic drinking did not differ across frontline workers, essential workers and NFEW. For the three groups, nonracialized group members had significantly higher odds for both outcomes. Screening positive for either generalized anxiety disorder or mood disorder was significantly associated with increased alcohol consumption across the three groups. For frontline and essential workers, females had significantly lower odds of heavy episodic drinking compared to males. For essential workers only, living in a rural area was significantly associated with lower odds of increased alcohol use, and screening positive for posttraumatic stress disorder was significantly associated with increased odds of heavy episodic drinking. For frontline workers only, living in a rural area was significantly associated with lower odds of heavy episodic drinking.

conclusionWhile frontline and essential workers were not more likely to report increased alcohol consumption and heavy episodic drinking compared to NFEW, there were some differences in factors associated with alcohol use. Such findings demonstrate the benefit of examining each group separately to provide information for targeted prevention strategies.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsAlcohol DrinkingCanadaFemaleHumansMaleSelf Report

Identifiers

PMID37584629
PMCPMC10516595
OpenAlexW4385813780

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.