Abstract
The consumption of alcohol in a population is usually monitored through individual questionnaires, forensics, and toxicological data. However, consumption estimates have some biases, mainly due to the accumulation of alcohol stocks. This study's objective was to assess alcohol consumption in Slovakia during the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown using wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). Samples of municipal wastewater were collected from three Slovak cities during the lockdown and during a successive period with lifted restrictions in 2020. The study included about 14% of the Slovak population. The urinary alcohol biomarker, ethyl sulfate (EtS), was analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). EtS concentrations were used to estimate the per capita alcohol consumption in each city. The average alcohol consumption in the selected cities in 2020 ranged between 2.1 and 327 L/day/1000 inhabitants and increased during days with weaker restrictions. WBE can provide timely information on alcohol consumption at the community level, complementing epidemiology-based monitoring techniques (e.g., population surveys and sales statistics).
Keywords:
COVID-19; alcohol; liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; lockdown; urban wastewater.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Alcohol Drinking / epidemiology
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COVID-19* / epidemiology
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Chromatography, Liquid / methods
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Cities
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Communicable Disease Control
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Ethanol / analysis
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Humans
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Pandemics
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Slovakia / epidemiology
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Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods
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Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Monitoring*
Grants and funding
This research was funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, grant numbers APVV-19-0250, APVV-21-0076, APVV-17-0119 and VEGA 1/0343/19. This research was funded by the Operational Program Integrated Infrastructure for the project: “Strategic research in the field of SMART monitoring, treatment and preventive protection against coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)”, grant number 313011ASS8, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The research was funded by Norway through the Norway Grants project: “Innovative carbon-based sorbents as an effective method of wastewater treatment”, grant number 3213200008. The work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund-Project “Centre for the investigation of synthesis and transformation of nutritional substances in the food chain in interaction with potentially harmful substances of anthropogenic origin: comprehensive assessment of soil contamination risks for the quality of agricultural products” (No.CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000845).