Factors associated with an increase in tobacco use and alcohol drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study of data from 105 countries

Mir Faeq A Quadri; Joanne Lusher; Morenike O Folayan; Maha El Tantawi; Ariel A Zuñiga; Brandon Brown; Nourhan M Aly; Joseph C Okeibunor; Giuliana Florencia; Mohammed Jafer; Eshrat Ara; Kessketlen A Miranda; Nuraldeen M Al-Khanati; Passent Ellakany; Balgis Gaffar; Anthonia O Ishabiyi; Abeedha T Khan; Zumama Khalid; Folake B Lawal; Ntombifuthi Nzimande; Anas Shamala; Ala'a B Al-Tammemi; Bamidele E Osamika; Muhammad A Yousaf; Jorma I Virtanen; Annie L Nguyen

doi:10.18332/tid/157205

Factors associated with an increase in tobacco use and alcohol drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study of data from 105 countries

Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Jan 27:21:14. doi: 10.18332/tid/157205. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mir Faeq A Quadri^{1

2}, Joanne Lusher³, Morenike O Folayan⁴, Maha El Tantawi⁵, Ariel A Zuñiga⁶, Brandon Brown⁷, Nourhan M Aly⁵, Joseph C Okeibunor⁸, Giuliana Florencia⁶, Mohammed Jafer⁹, Eshrat Ara¹⁰, Kessketlen A Miranda¹¹, Nuraldeen M Al-Khanati¹², Passent Ellakany¹³, Balgis Gaffar¹⁴, Anthonia O Ishabiyi^{15

16}, Abeedha T Khan¹⁷, Zumama Khalid¹⁸, Folake B Lawal¹⁹, Ntombifuthi Nzimande²⁰, Anas Shamala²¹, Ala'a B Al-Tammemi^{15

16}, Bamidele E Osamika²², Muhammad A Yousaf^{23

24}, Jorma I Virtanen²⁵, Annie L Nguyen²⁶

Affiliations

¹ Dental Public Health Division, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Oral Health Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, United States.
³ Regent's University London, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
⁵ Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
⁶ University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico.
⁷ Department of Social Medicine, Population and Public Health, University of California Riverside School of Medicine, Riverside, United States.
⁸ World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
⁹ Department of Health Promotion, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, Government College for Women, Cluster University of Srinagar, Srinagar, India.
¹¹ Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
¹² Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Syrian Private University, Damascus, Syria.
¹³ Department of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
¹⁴ Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ Migration Health Division, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Migration Agency, Amman, Jordan.
¹⁶ Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
¹⁷ School of Biological Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
¹⁸ Department of Health Sciences, University of Genova, Genova, Italy.
¹⁹ Department of Periodontology and Community Dentistry, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²⁰ Department of Economic and Human Geography, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
²¹ Department of Preventive and Biomedical Science, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Science and Technology, Sana'a, Yemen.
²² Department of Psychology, Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²³ Institute of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
²⁴ Department of Biology, Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore, Pakistan.
²⁵ Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
²⁶ Department of Family Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably led to monumental challenges, and alcohol drinking and tobacco use have unlikely been spared. This cross-sectional survey reports on factors associated with an increase in alcohol drinking and tobacco use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: An online survey conducted in 2020, generated data from 14899 adults residing in 105 countries. Dependent variables were changes in alcohol drinking and tobacco use. Independent variables were age, sex, education level, job loss, lost or reduced wages, investment/retirement benefits, interrupted substance addiction care, and income level of the countries. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was computed to explore the associations between dependent and independent variables in adjusted models using the backward stepwise method. The probability of including or excluding a covariate was set at p(in)<0.05 and p(out)>0.1, respectively.

Results: Of the regular alcohol consumers (N=4401), 22.9% reported an increase in their alcohol drinking. Of the regular tobacco users (N=2718), 31% reported an increase in their tobacco use. Job loss (Alcohol: AOR=1.26; Tobacco: AOR=1.32) and lost/reduced wages (Alcohol: AOR=1.52; Tobacco: AOR=1.52) were associated with higher odds of increased alcohol drinking and tobacco use. Many interruptions to addiction care (AOR=1.75) were associated with higher odds of increased alcohol drinking. Whereas no interruption to addiction care was associated with lower odds of increased alcohol drinking (AOR=0.77). Also, none (AOR=0.66) or some (AOR=0.70) interruptions to addiction care were associated with lower odds of increased tobacco use.

Conclusions: This global survey alludes to the unintended consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol drinking and tobacco use. It is critical that the strategies for emergency responses should include support to ameliorate the impact of financial distress and disruption in substance dependence treatment services.

Keywords: COVID-19; alcohol use; global data; risk factors; tobacco use.

Grants and funding

001/WHO_/World Health Organization/International