Introduction: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has a profound impact on society and healthcare utilisation. Some studies found that alcohol consumption increased. While declines in non-COVID emergency department (ED) visits have been observed worldwide, little is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of alcohol-related ED visits. We aimed to examine the changes in alcohol-related ED utilisation during the first year of the pandemic in the Netherlands. We assessed whether lockdowns, closure of the catering industry and alcohol bans were associated with changes in ED utilisation for alcohol-related emergencies.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of alcohol-related ED visits in a Dutch trauma level 2 centre, comparing the pandemic year 2020 and using the year 2019 as a reference. Alcohol-related ED visits were categorised as alcohol intoxication, alcohol-related trauma or a combination of both.
Results: There was an absolute decline of 23.3% in alcohol-related ED visits during 2020 compared to 2019. The decline was most distinct during the second lockdown period (-60%, P ≤ 0.001), which included an alcohol ban. No significant differences were found in the type of alcohol-related ED visits. The proportion of alcohol-related ED visits remained similar (2.2% vs. 2%).
Discussion and conclusions: Despite reports of higher alcohol consumption, we observed a reduction of alcohol-related ED visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline was most distinct during the second lockdown period, which included an alcohol ban. Further prospective studies are warranted to examine this possible association.
Keywords: COVID-19; alcohol prohibition; emergency service hospital; pandemic.
© 2021 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.