Washington (AFP)
Alcohol consumption increased significantly in the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly among women, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Jama Network Open.
"On average, three in four adults consumed alcohol one more day per month," write the authors who used data from a regular panel from the RAND Corporation, and compared responses from May-June 2020, when bars and restaurants had started to reopen in a good part of the American states, to those of April-June 2019.
Trade data published by Nielsen in June showed a jump in alcohol sales outside places of consumption (+ 21% during a week in June compared to the same week in 2019), but with the closure of bars and restaurants , it was difficult to understand if people were drinking, in total, more than before the pandemic.
This is the information the new study provides, although it struggles to discern a trend for all segments of the population: for example, more frequent alcohol consumption among women is not observed among women. men statistically significantly (the number of days women consumed alcohol increased 0.78 days / month, compared to 4.58 days previously).
Heavy drinking days are defined as those when a man drinks more than five drinks in two hours, and a woman drinks four drinks in two hours.
In this category, women increased the practice slightly, going from 0.44 to 0.62 days per month on average.
But in the end, men remain the biggest drinkers, confirm the new data, with around 23 drinks per month against 15 for women.
© 2020 AFP