Table 3.

Association of the timing of the COVID‐19 lockdown with high‐risk drinking and alcohol reduction attempts in England

	% (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)	P	ORadj (95% CI)	P
High‐risk drinking prevalencea
Before	25.1 (24.4–25.7)	1.00	–	–f	–
After	38.3 (35.9–40.7)	1.85 (1.67–2.06)	< 0.001	–	–
Alcohol reduction attemptsb
Before	15.3 (14.3–16.4)	1.00	–	1.00	–
After	28.5 (25.0–32.3)	2.21 (1.82–2.68)	< 0.001	2.16 (1.77–2.64)	< 0.001
Use of evidence‐based supportc , d
Before	4.0 (2.7–5.7)	1.00	–	1.00	–
After	1.2 (0.1–4.1)	0.32 (0.08–1.26)	0.103	0.23 (0.05–0.97)	0.046
Use of remote supportc , e
Before	6.1 (4.5–8.2)	1.00	–	1.00	–
After	6.9 (3.6–11.8)	1.21 (0.63–2.32)	0.573	1.32 (0.64–2.75)	0.456

All data are weighted to match the adult population in England on age, social grade, region, tenure, ethnicity and working status within sex.

CI = confidence interval; OR = unadjusted odds ratio; OR_adj = odds ratio adjusted for age, sex, social grade, region (and, for analyses of use of support, full AUDIT score as an indicator of dependence). Before, April 2019–February 2020; after, April 2020.

^a Among all adults (before n = 18 781, after n = 1649),

^b among high‐risk drinkers (before n = 4588, after n = 606);

^c among high‐risk drinkers who made a reduction attempt (before n = 703, after n = 173);

^d prescription medication or face‐to‐face behavioural support;

^e telephone support, websites or apps;

^f no adjusted analysis was performed for high‐risk drinking prevalence.