ABSTRACT
AIMS: New Zealand's public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic has largely been considered successful, although there have been concerns surrounding the potential harms of the lockdown restrictions enforced, including alteration of alcohol consumption. New Zealand utilised a four-tiered alert level system of lockdowns and restrictions, with Level 4 denoting strict lockdown. This study aimed to compare alcohol-related hospital presentations during these periods with corresponding calendar-matched dates from the preceding year. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case-controlled analysis of all alcohol-related hospital presentations between 1 January 2019 to 2 December 2021 and compared COVID-19 restriction periods to corresponding calendar-matched pre-pandemic periods. RESULTS: A total of 3,722 and 3,479 alcohol-related acute hospital presentations occurred during the four COVID-19 restriction levels and corresponding control periods respectively. Alcohol-related presentations accounted for a greater proportion of all admissions during COVID-19 Alert Levels 3 and 1 than the respective control periods (both pâ¢0.05), but not during Levels 4 and 2 (both p>0.30). Acute mental and behavioural disorders accounted for a greater proportion of alcohol-related presentations during Alert Levels 4 and 3 (both p≤0.02), although alcohol dependence was present in a lower proportion of presentations during Alert Levels 4, 3, and 2 (all pâ¢0.01). There was no difference in acute medical conditions including hepatitis and pancreatitis during all alert levels (all p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Alcohol-related presentations were unchanged compared to matched control periods during the strictest level of lockdown, although acute mental and behavioural disorders accounted for a greater proportion of alcohol-related admissions during this period. New Zealand appears to have avoided the general trend of increased alcohol-related harms seen internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown restrictions.