Alcohol Use Patterns During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Veterans in the United States - 24/02/24
, Zeyuan Yang, MS b, Michael Ostacher, MD, MPH c, d, Wei Zhang, MD, PhD e, Derek Satre, PhD f, g, Alexander Monto, MD h, i, Mandana Khalili, MD, MAS i, j, Ashwani K. Singal, MD, MS k, l, Ramsey Cheung, MD a, b
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Abstract |
Background |
Veterans may be especially susceptible to increased alcohol consumption following the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to evaluate trends in alcohol use among US Veterans prior to, during, and following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods |
All US Veterans utilizing Veterans Affairs health care facilities in the United States from March 1, 2018 to February 28, 2023 with ≥1 AUDIT-C score were categorized into 1) No alcohol use (AUDIT-C = 0), 2) Low-risk alcohol use (AUDIT-C 1-2 for women, 1-3 for men), and 3) High-risk alcohol use (AUDIT-C ≥ 3 for women, ≥ 4 for men). Trends in the proportion of Veterans reporting high-risk alcohol use, stratified by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity were evaluated.
Results |
Among a cohort of 2.15 to 2.60 million Veterans, 15.5% reported high-risk alcohol use during March 2018-February 2019, which decreased to 14.6% during the first year of the pandemic, increased to 15.2% in the second year, and then decreased to 14.9% from March 2022-February 2023. Among non-Hispanic whites, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics, the proportion of women reporting high-risk alcohol use surpassed that of men during the onset of the pandemic and beyond. The greatest proportion of high-risk alcohol use was observed among young Veterans ages 18-39 years (17%-27%), which was consistent across all race/ethnic groups.
Conclusions |
High-risk alcohol use among US Veterans has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic onset, and in the third year following pandemic onset, 15% of Veterans overall and over 20% of young Veterans ages 18-39 years reported high-risk alcohol use.
El texto completo de este artículo está disponible en PDF.Keywords : Alcohol use disorder, Alcoholism, AUDIT-C, Pandemic, Veterans
Esquema
| Funding: In part supported by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) R01AA029312, K24AA022523 (MK), and K24AA025703 (DS). |
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| Conflicts of Interest: RJW has received funding (to his institution) from Gilead Sciences, Exact Sciences, Thera Technologies, and Durect Corporation, and has served as a consultant (without compensation) for Gilead Sciences. ZY has no disclosures. MO is Chair of the Independent Safety Monitoring Board for Neurocrine, unrelated to the current study. WZ has no disclosures. DS has no disclosures. AM has no disclosures. MK has received funding (to her institution) from Gilead Sciences and Intercept Pharmaceuticals and has served as a scientific consultant for Gilead Sciences Inc. AKS reports (1) personal fees from Medscape Gastroenterology, Chronic Liver Disease Foundation, Medical Speakers Network, Up-to-Date; (2) non-financial support from American Association for Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), American College of Gastroenterology, and American Porphyria Foundation; (3) grants from American College of Gastroenterology and National Institute of Health (NIAAA and NIDDK); (4) Editorial work for Liver Transplantation and Hepatology, Clinical Translational Gastroenterology, and Gastroendo News. AKS is a consultant on the SBIR grant for Pleiogenic pharmaceuticals and is DSMB member for phase 2-b trial of DUR-928 in alcoholic hepatitis for Durect Pharmaceuticals. In addition, apart from a steering committee member of the portal hypertension SIG and chair of the alcohol-associated liver disease SIG (2020-2022) of the AASLD, AKS currently is vice chair of the liver and biliary section of the American Gastroenterological Association Council. None of these disclosures conflict with this activity. RC has no disclosures. |
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| Authorship: All authors had access to the data and a role in writing the manuscript. RJW: Writing – review, editing, and original draft, Supervision, Project administration, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation, and Conceptualization; ZY: Writing - review & editing, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization; MO: Writing - review & editing, Methodology; WZ: Writing - review & editing; DS: Writing - review & editing, Methodology; AM: Writing - review & editing; MK: Writing - review & editing, Methodology; AKS: Writing - review & editing; RC: Writing - review & editing, Methodology, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. |
Vol 137 - N° 3
P. 236 - mars 2024 Regresar al número
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