Effects of social and environmental restrictions, and changes in alcohol availability in adolescents’ binge drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims: The aim of the present study was to estimate the evolution of binge drinking since the pre-pandemic period, and throughout the pandemic period with the application and lifting of the restrictions in adolescents aged 12 to 19 years old in school in Central Catalonia. Methodology: Quasi-experimental time series study with two samples of adolescents. The first sample (1st wave of survey, pre-pandemic period) was obtained between the months of September 2019 to March 2020 (n = 6621) and the second sample (2nd wave of survey, pandemic period) between the months of October 2021 and March 2022 (n = 7576). The dependent variable was monthly binge drinking. The main independent variable was the period of data collection (1st and 2nd wave), and gender and grade were also included. Twenty-one time slices were performed by fortnight and the binge drinking prevalence of the previous month was extracted in each of them. Interrupted time series analysis was performed and Poisson regression models with robust variance were estimated. Results: The data indicated a significant increase in the prevalence of binge drinking in certain periods in girls [easing of measures in October, aPR: 2.25 (1.03–4.89); and total lifting of restrictions in February, aPR: 3.29 (1.57–6.89)] and a reduction in consumption in periods of tightening of restrictions. After the upturn before the return to the pre-pandemic situation binge drinking followed a decreasing trend in both sexes [aPR boys: 0.73 (95%CI: 0.66–0.81); aPR girls: 0.78 (95%CI: 0.71–0.86)]. Conclusions: Periods of community interventions aimed at protecting people’s health have had an impact on other health behaviors or aspects of health such as binge drinking, and differentially across groups and communities.