Observational studyAlcohol, clinical & experimental research2026
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.
Observational study in Alcohol, clinical & experimental research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted face-to-face alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services and prompted greater use of telehealth. This study measured the impact of COVID-19 on outpatient treatment episodes before, during, and after stay-at-home orders were introduced.
methodsThis observational study used routinely collected data from community-based non-government AOD services in New South Wales (NSW), Australia across 4 years (209 7-day intervals from January 1, 2019-January 2, 2023). Interrupted time-series analyses with seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling estimated weekly changes in outpatient treatment episodes associated with stay-at-home (lockdown) orders, including (1) commencements, (2) planned cessations, and (3) unplanned cessations. Episode counts were also examined by gender (male, female), age group (< 25 years, 25-59 years, ≥ 60 years), principal drug of concern (alcohol, amphetamines, cannabinoids, opioids, and other), and location (metropolitan and non-metropolitan).
resultsThere were no significant level or trend changes in the overall number of episode commencements (ARIMA (2,0,0)(1,0,0), lockdown one: β_level = -814.85, p = 0.098; β_slope = 11.14, p = 0.127; lockdown two: β_level = 317.3, p = 0.427; β_slope = -3.47, p = 0.237), planned cessations (ARIMA (1,0,0)(0,0,1), lockdown one: β_level = -142.1, p = 0.66; β_slope = 1.16, p = 0.808; lockdown two: β_level = -199.07, p = 0.432; β_slope = 0.18, p = 0.932), or unplanned cessations (ARIMA (1,0,0), lockdown one: β_level = -92.4, p = 0.717; β_slope = 1.4, p = 0.711; lockdown two: β_level = -121.19, p = 0.563; β_slope = 0.53, p = 0.732) in outpatient non-government AOD services at either lockdown. For subgroups, during lockdown one, commencements per week increased for metropolitan participants (ARIMA (1,0,0) β_level = -725.12, p = 0.024; β_slope = 10.07, p = 0.035) and those with amphetamines (ARIMA(3,0,0)(1,0,0) β_level = -338.44, p = 0.036; β_slope = 4.68, p = 0.05) as their principal drug of concern.
conclusionsThe introduction of COVID-19 lockdown measures did not appear to adversely impact the number of NSW non-government AOD outpatient treatment episodes delivered nor the likelihood of unplanned dropout. Our findings illustrate the likely role of telehealth in sustaining (and for some groups, perhaps temporarily increasing) AOD service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlights the sector's resilience in sustaining care under challenging circumstances.
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.