Coronavirus lockdown leads to increase in alcohol intake with women more likely to drink more

The findings come from an Australian National University report released on Tuesday, finding almost one-in-four women who drank reported an increase in drinking during May.

Almost one-in-five men reported an increase in the same period.

Co-author Professor Nicholas Biddle said the reasons for an increase in drinking were quite different across the sexes.

"For males a strong predictor for increased drinking was because of a loss of job or decline in working hours," he said. "For females a strong predictor for increased drinking was having a child caring role."

Professor Biddle said certain population groups had shown quite large increases in their consumption.

Those groups included people who were already frequent drinkers, and women around the age of 35 to 44.

"Particularly for females who are likely to be juggling both work or caring responsibility, consumption has gone up," he said.

He said a large number of women blamed increased stress and anxiety for their extra consumption.

Around a third of all men were drinking at "high frequency" in May - three or more days a week. Before the pandemic, almost a third of Australians were drinking at high frequency.

For females, "high frequency" consumption increased from 16.2 per cent to 21.9 per cent, whereas "low frequency" drinking among females, less than one day a month, dropped from 44.8 per cent before the pandemic to 37.9 per cent during May.

"This is a substantial change over a relatively short period of time," Professor Biddle said.

Spending more time at home was the main reason both men and women gave for their increase in drinking. Increased stress was the second biggest driver of increased drinking for women, while for men it was boredom.

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"Those individuals who increased from an already high base, or those who have had an increase in alcohol consumption alongside a worsening in mental health outcomes, are likely to be of the greatest concern for public policy," Professor Biddle said.

But he said it was important the results were not overstated.

While there was a number of Australians who said their drinking had increased, the study found that for those who said their consumption had risen, most reported only a modest increase.

The study compared how much Australians reported drinking in May this year with self-reported drinking two to three years before the spread of the coronavirus.

Researchers says it's the first dataset that has frequency and level of alcohol consumption in Australia for a representative sample of the population, including information on alcohol consumption for the same individuals prior to the pandemic.

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