ABSTRACT
Introduction
Effects of lockdowns on alcohol use and smoking remain unclear. By exploiting the variation in regional COVID-19 lockdowns in two Chilean regions, we examined their effect on alcohol use and smoking in two university communities.
Methods
We conducted a quasi-experimental study in university communities in two Chilean regions, Coquimbo and Araucanía. Participants were a longitudinal cohort (n = 896) assessed seven times from July 2020 (t1$$ {t}_1 $$) to April 2021 (t7$$ {t}_7 $$). Outcomes were weekly grams of alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking (HED) and cigarettes smoked per day.
Results
Lockdown between t1$$ {t}_1 $$ and t3$$ {t}_3 $$ was associated with an increase of 15.6 g of alcohol used per week (95% confidence interval 1.8; 29.3) and an increase of 0.3 daily cigarettes smoked (95% confidence interval 0.003; 0.5) at t3$$ {t}_3 $$ (September 2020), compared to the absence of lockdown. When lockdown reversed at t5$$ {t}_5 $$, we found weak evidence of a reduction in alcohol use and smoking in the region under lockdown. We did not observe changes in HED during the study period.
Discussion and Conclusions
COVID-19 lockdown appears to result in an initial relative increase in weekly volume of alcohol use and cigarette smoking compared to a region affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but without lockdown. We did not find evidence of changes in HED.
Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT05069090