BACKGROUND
Italy has been one of the first western countries seriously involved in the COVID-19 pandemic in the first months of 2020 and so that the national government was forced to impose a long lockdown period, stopping all the people aggregation outdoor and indoor activities. From a social point of view this period of domestic confinement resulted in deep changes of behaviours and lifestyles, promoting in many people the onset of psychological symptoms and signs (including anxiety, depression, insomnia, and irritability among others) already known as associated with drug and alcohol abuse
OBJECTIVE
this study aims to assess the variation of alcohol drinking habits in a sample of Italian citizens during the COVID-19 lockdown and to identify the psychosocial factors surrounding it, in order to assess the specific subset of the population that could need psychosocial support during these events
METHODS
An online anonymous questionnaire was created and submitted from 9th April 2020 to 28th April 2020 using social medias and e-mails. Questions were related to personal details such as age, work, instruction, and, moreover, to alcohol drinking habits during the lockdown, including Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT C) test questions
RESULTS
A total of 1234 surveys were filled out by subjects with an age range from 18 to 80 years old. An increase in both anxiety and fear has been detected in most of the participants (63% and 61% respectively) with a direct (r=0.652; p<0.001) relationship between them. Participants older than 50 years showed the strongest correlation between alcohol consumption, fear, and anxiety, (r=0.830, P <0.001 and r=0.741, P<0.001, respectively). Subjects living alone experienced a stronger association between anxiety, fear, and higher level of alcohol consumption (r: 0.529; P<0.001; r: 0.628, P<0.001 respectively). Moreover, 18% of participants increased alcohol consumption drinking during the lockdown. These subjects showed a lower frequency of alcohol consumption before the lockdown in comparison to the rest of the study population (2.5±0.96 vs 3±1.03, P<0.0001 respectively). Moreover, comparing the abovementioned groups, the percentage of subjects who experienced higher alcohol assumption before the 11th of March was higher in those that didn't change their drinking behaviour during the lockdown in comparison to that portion of them that experienced a worsening of alcohol abuse (r: 30.422, P<0.0001)
CONCLUSIONS
according to these data, during the Italian lockdown due to COVID 19 pandemic, different kind of people experienced an increase in alcohol drinking. Several psychosocial factors are involved in determining the increase in harmful alcohol consumption during this extraordinary stressful event and they must be addressed by the healthcare support in order to avoid awful lockdown impact on human life
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