Changes in US drinking and alcohol use disorders associated with social, health, and economic impacts of COVID-19.

Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic increased alcohol consumption in the USA as a result of widespread individual changes in drinking patterns. Few studies have utilized longitudinal data allowing the prediction of increased or decreased drinking from COVID-19 economic, social, and health impacts.

Methods: Data are from 1819 respondents in the 2019-20 National Alcohol Survey and a one-year follow-up in early 2021.

The use of online methods to recruit and follow a hard-to-reach population in the Peer Alternatives for Addiction Study 2021 Cohort.

Background: Although studies are increasingly adopting online protocols, few such studies in the addiction field have comprehensively described their data review procedures and successes in detecting low-quality/fraudulent data. The current study describes data collection protocols and outcomes of a large, longitudinal study (the PAL Study 2021) that implemented online design elements to study individuals seeking peer support for an alcohol use disorder.

Methods: In 2021, the PAL Study collaborated with mutual-help group (MHG) partners and recovery-related organizations to recruit individuals attending a 12-step group, Women for Sobriety (WFS), LifeRing Secular Recovery, and/or SMART Recovery for an alcohol problem in-person and/or online in the prior 30 days.

When the Going Gets Tough: Multimorbidity and Heavy and Binge Drinking Among Adults.

Introduction: Multimorbidity, the presence of two or more long-term health conditions in the same individual, is an emerging epidemic associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Continued drinking concurrent with alcohol-related chronic conditions, particularly with multimorbidity, is likely to further elevate health risk. This study aimed to examine the associations of multimorbidity among diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer with drinking, and moderation of these associations by age.

Disaggregating trends in alcohol involvement among Hispanic, Black, and White female and male U.S. adolescents: 2002 to 2019.

Objective: Alcohol involvement is declining among U.S. adolescents, however studies examining population-level trends in alcohol involvement among females and males from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds are scarce.

Long-term trends in beverage-specific drinking in the National Alcohol Surveys: Differences by sex, age, and race and ethnicity.

Background: Despite substantial declines in underage drinking and binge drinking, alcohol consumption has increased in the past 30 years. This study examined how beverage-specific drinking patterns varied by sex, age, and race and ethnicity from 1979 to 2020.

Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted on pooled data from the National Alcohol Survey series from 1979 to 2020 of a sample of U.

Demographic disparities in the limited awareness of alcohol use as a breast cancer risk factor: empirical findings from a cross-sectional study of U.S. women.

Background: Alcohol use is an established yet modifiable risk factor for breast cancer. However, recent research indicates that the vast majority of U.S.

Estimating Web Survey Mode and Panel Effects in a Nationwide Survey of Alcohol Use.

Random-digit dialing (RDD) telephone surveys are challenged by declining response rates and increasing costs. Many surveys that were traditionally conducted via telephone are seeking cost-effective alternatives, such as address-based sampling (ABS) with self-administered web or mail questionnaires. At a fraction of the cost of both telephone and ABS surveys, opt-in web panels are an attractive alternative.

Disparities in Alcoholics Anonymous Participation from 2000 to 2020 Among U.S. Residents With an Alcohol Use Disorder in the National Alcohol Survey.

Objective: Mutual-help groups (MHGs) like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are effective for resolving alcohol use disorders (AUDs), but few studies have examined disparities in MHG participation, particularly recently. We used five waves of National Alcohol Survey data to investigate whether prevalence of AA attendance among those with a lifetime AUD differed by race/ethnicity, age, and sex, directly testing whether these associations varied with time.

Method: Analyses pooled weighted data from 2000 to 2020, including only participants with a lifetime AUD and identifying as non-Hispanic White, Latinx/Hispanic, or non-Hispanic Black/African American ( = 8,876).

Inequitable access to general and behavioral healthcare in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic: A role for telehealth?

Wide-ranging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased psychological distress and alcohol consumption, and disproportionate hardship for disadvantaged groups. Early in the pandemic, telehealth services were expanded to maintain healthcare access amidst lockdowns, medical office closures, and fear of infection. This study examines general and behavioral healthcare access and disparities during the first year of the pandemic.

Sensitivity to orthographic vs. phonological constraints on word recognition: An ERP study with deaf and hearing readers.

The role of phonology in word recognition has previously been investigated using a masked lexical decision task and transposed letter (TL) nonwords that were either pronounceable (barve) or unpronounceable (brvae). We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate these effects in skilled deaf readers, who may be more sensitive to orthotactic than phonotactic constraints, which are conflated in English. Twenty deaf and twenty hearing adults completed a masked lexical decision task while ERPs were recorded.

Longitudinal assessment of drinking changes during the pandemic: The 2021 COVID-19 follow-up study to the 2019 to 2020 National Alcohol Survey.

Background: Surveys of changes in drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic have primarily relied on retrospective self-report. Further, most such surveys have not included detailed measures of alcohol use patterns, such as beverage-specific consumption, nor measures of alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms that would allow a comprehensive understanding of changes in alcohol use.

Methods: Data from 1819 completed interviews from the N14C follow-up survey to the 2019 to 2020 National Alcohol Survey (N14) were conducted between January 30 and March 28, 2021.

Predictors and outcomes of online mutual-help group attendance in a national survey study.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, online video platforms became the primary mode of accessing substance use-focused mutual-help group meetings, which may persist after in-person meetings are available again. This study examined the characteristics (demographic, substance use and recovery, and mutual-help group use) of attendees of online recovery support meetings, and associations of online meeting attendance with substance use outcomes, using national data (without ensured representativeness) collected before the pandemic.

Methods: Data were from the Peer Alternatives in Addiction (PAL) Study of attendees of 12-step groups (e.

Mental health and drinking to cope in the early COVID period: Data from the 2019-2020 US National Alcohol Survey.

Background: Studies show drinking to cope and mental health problems have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, their samples have been limited by convenience sampling or lack of a pre-pandemic measure. We examined the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, drinking to cope and their association using a probability-based sample of the US adult population.

Methods: Data was drawn from the probability samples of the 2019-2020 National Alcohol Survey (N = 7,233) to examine differences in drinking to cope and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Improving Estimates of Alcohol-Attributable Deaths in the United States: Impact of Adjusting for the Underreporting of Alcohol Consumption.

Objective: Self-reported alcohol consumption in U.S. public health surveys covers only 30%-60% of per capita alcohol sales, based on tax and shipment data.

Alcohol Use Severity among Hispanic Emerging Adults: Examining Intragroup Marginalization, Bicultural Self-Efficacy, and the Role of Gender within a Stress and Coping Framework.

Most research on cultural stressors and alcohol has focused on intercultural stressors. Continuing to exclude intracultural stressors (e.g.

Parental risk constellations and future alcohol use disorder (AUD) in offspring: A combined HUNT survey and health registries study.

Objective: We examined the risk of developing a future alcohol use disorder (AUD) among offspring of families with different constellations of parental risk factors.

Method: We analyzed a sample of 8,774 offspring (50.2% male) from 6,696 two-parent families who participated in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study in Norway when offspring were 13-19 years old in 1995-1997 or 2006-2008.

Recruiting for diversity: a pilot test of recruitment strategies for a national alcohol survey with mail-in genetic data collection.

We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of collecting a saliva sample for DNA through the mail from a national sample of drinkers and examined whether targeted messaging would increase the response rates of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino participants. We invited respondents from two prior national population surveys to participate in a brief telephone survey regarding recent alcohol use and to mail in a self-administered saliva sample. Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Whites had similar rates of consenting to participate.

Octocoral populations and connectivity in continental Ecuador and Galápagos, Eastern Pacific.

Octocorals are important zoobenthic organisms, contributing to structural heterogeneity and species diversity on hardgrounds. Their persistence amidst global coral reef degradation and ocean acidification, has prompted renewed interest in this taxon. Octocoral assemblages at 52 sites in continental Ecuador and Galápagos (23 species, 3742 colonies) were examined for composition, size distributions within and among populations, and connectivity patterns based on ocean current models.

Alcohol use severity, depressive symptoms, and optimism among Hispanics: Examining the immigrant paradox in a serial mediation model.

Objective: Hispanic immigrants exhibit more positive outcomes than U.S.-born Hispanics across educational, psychological, and physical health indices, a phenomenon called the immigrant paradox.

Improving the Validity of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Alcohol Measures.

Background: Valid measurement of alcohol use can be difficult in surveys, which are subject to biases like underreporting and differential nonresponse. Still, monitoring trends, policy impacts, disparities, and related issues all require valid individual- and state-level drinking data collected over time. Here, we propose a double-adjustment approach for improving the validity of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) alcohol measures.

Understanding differences in prescription drug misuse between two Texas border communities.

The misuse of prescription drugs in the U.S. is an alarming public health crisis.

Feasibility of a mail-in, self-administered dried blood spot collection method in national, population-based alcohol surveys in the United States.

Background And Aims: Including a low-intensity blood collection method in population-based alcohol studies would advance our ability to study biological mechanisms related to alcohol. However, the likelihood of participation in such a blood collection method remains understudied. This study's primary aims were to (1) estimate the return rate of mail-in, self-administered dried blood spot (saDBS) samples in national surveys and (2) test correlates of returning a sample.

New Estimates of the Mean Ethanol Content of Beer, Wine, and Spirits Sold in the United States Show a Greater Increase in Per Capita Alcohol Consumption than Previous Estimates.

Background: Recent increases in alcohol-related morbidity and mortality have not occurred alongside notable increases in per capita alcohol consumption (PCC). This discrepancy may be partially due to U.S.

Hazardous Drinking Prevalence and Correlates in Older New Zealanders: A Comparison of the AUDIT-C and the CARET.

The study compared the proportion of older adults identified as drinking hazardously based on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) with the older adult-specific Comorbidity Alcohol Risk Evaluation Tool (CARET) and investigated whether sociodemographics, comorbidities, health, medication use, and alcohol-related risk behaviors explained discrepancies between the screens in classification of hazardousness. The AUDIT-C and the CARET were administered to 3,673 adults aged 55 to 89 years. Classification agreement between the screens was evaluated using Cohen's kappa.