Changes in the alcohol-specific disease burden during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: interrupted time series analyses.
Eur J Public Health
; 33(4): 645-652, 2023 08 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37365723
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has been linked to changes in alcohol consumption, access to healthcare services and alcohol-attributable harm. In this contribution, we quantify changes in alcohol-specific mortality and hospitalizations at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 in Germany.METHODS:
We obtained monthly counts of deaths and hospital discharges between January 2013 and December 2020 (n = 96 months). Alcohol-specific (International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision codes F10.X; G31.2, G62.1, G72.1, I42.6, K29.2, K70.X, K85.2, K86.0, Q86.0, T51.X) diagnoses were further split into codes reflective of acute vs. chronic harm from alcohol consumption. To quantify the change in alcohol-specific deaths and hospital discharges, we performed sex-stratified interrupted time series analyses using generalized additive mixed models for the population aged 45-74. Immediate (step) and cumulative (slope) changes were considered.RESULTS:
Following March 2020, we observed immediate increases in alcohol-specific mortality among women but not among men. Between the years of 2019 and 2020, we estimate that alcohol-specific mortality among women has increased by 10.8%. Hospital discharges were analyzed separately for acute and chronic conditions. The total number of hospital discharges fell by 21.4% and 25.1% for acute alcohol-specific conditions for women and men, respectively. The total number of hospital discharges for chronic alcohol-specific conditions fell by 7.4% and 8.1% for women and men, respectively.CONCLUSIONS:
Increased consumption among people with heavy drinking patterns and reduced utilization of addiction-specific healthcare services during the pandemic might explain excess mortality. During times of public health crises, access to addiction-specific services needs to be ensured.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Álcool
/
COVID-19
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article