Table 4.
Average monthly rates (per 100,000 people) of visits to the emergency department due to alcohol by diagnostic codes for by lowest (Q1) and highest (Q5) neighbourhood income in the 3 years prior to COVID-19 compared to during COVID-19.
| Q1 (Lowest Quintile) rates per 100,000 (95 % CIs) |
Q5 (Highest Quintile) rates per 100,000 (95 % CIs) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol-Related Harms (ICD-10 Codes) | Pre-COVID-19 | During COVID-19 | Adj. Percent change (95 % CIs)A | Pre-COVID-19 | During COVID-19 | Adj. Percent change (95 % CIs) |
| Acute intoxication | 43.5 | 32.8 | −22.9% (-28.0, -17.4) | 13.0 | 8.5 | −32.8% (-38.2, -26.8) |
| Harmful use | 23.8 | 20.2 | −12.1% (-18.2, -5.4) | 6.9 | 5.7 | −13.9% (-21.7, -5.2) |
| Alcohol dependence* | 8.4 | 6.7 | −23.8% (-31.4, -15.3) | 3.1 | 2.0 | −35.7% (-44.3, -25.8) |
| Alcohol withdrawal* | 14.5 | 14.8 | +7.8 % (-0.1, 16.3) | 5.1 | 4.8 | −1.0% (-10.5, 9.5) |
| Mental/behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, other | 1.7 | 2.2 | +52.3 % (27.1, 82.5) | 0.6 | 0.7 | +40.8 % (9.5, 81.2) |
| Alcoholic liver disease | 3.0 | 3.1 | +8.1 % (-4.6, 22.5) | 1.3 | 1.5 | +21.9 % (3.4, 43.7) |
| Alcoholic gastritis | 1.1 | 1.0 | −12.7% (-29.0, 7.3) | 0.4 | 0.4 | −0.01% (-26.6, 36.2) |
| Accidental or intentional poisoning by alcohol | 2.6 | 1.9 | −18.1% (-28.9, -5.7) | 1.0 | 0.9 | −5.5% (-22.4, 15.1) |
| Other medical conditions due to alcohol | 3.8 | 3.1 | −13.1% (-23.4, -1.5) | 1.5 | 1.4 | −2.4% (-17.5, 15.3) |
A
Adjusted percent changes were obtained from rate ratios comparing average monthly counts of visits due to alcohol (per capita) in the first 6 months following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic to the same 6-month periods in 2017−2019. Analyses are adjusted for month and yearly trend.CIs: Confidence Intervals. See Appendix 1 for a full list of ICD-10 codes for alcohol-related harms.
*
P < 0.001, ** P < 0.05 for subgroup difference (interaction between COVID-19 and neighbourhood income Quintile).