Mindfulness as a Protective Factor Against Increased Tobacco and Alcohol Use in Hospital Workers Following the First COVID-19-Related Lockdown: a Study in Southern France.

COVID-19-related national lockdowns worldwide have had repercussions on people's well-being and have led to increased substance use. Mindfulness has previously been associated with reduced psychological distress and benefits in terms of addictive behaviors. We aimed to assess whether dispositional mindfulness protected against increased tobacco and alcohol use in hospital workers after France's first lockdown started. All workers in two French hospitals were contacted by email to participate in an online survey. Three hundred eighty-five workers answered. We ran two separate logistic regression models to test for associations between the level of dispositional mindfulness and both increased tobacco and alcohol use, after adjusting for affect deterioration. Dispositional mindfulness was associated with a lower likelihood of increased tobacco (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) [95% CI] 0.71 [0.51; 0.99], p = 0.046) and alcohol (0.66 [0.50; 0.87], p = 0.004) use. The effect of mindfulness on tobacco use was partially mediated by affect deterioration. Dispositional mindfulness appeared to be a protective factor against lockdown-related tobacco and alcohol use increases in French hospital workers.

Psychological Distress and Tobacco Use Among Hospital Workers During COVID-19.

Background and Aims: This work aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital workers' psychological parameters and attitudes toward substance use, before and during the French COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: An online survey was proposed to the staff of the University Hospital of Nice and Sainte-Marie psychiatric hospital in France from May 18 to June 6, 2020 assessing changes in daily habits, psychological distress and changes in substance use, including smoking. Results: A total of 702 respondents (80.3% female) filled out the survey. Overall, most of the workers reported increased stress, irritability, sadness, decreased motivation, and a worse quality of sleep after the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. Additionally, hospital workers who were more likely to use tobacco during the COVID-19 lockdown reported increased sadness (OR = 1.23, p < 0.001), loss of motivation (OR = 0.86, p < 0.05), alcohol consumption (OR = 3.12, p < 0.001), lower incomes (OR = 1.69, p < 0.05), living alone (OR = 1.77, p < 0.001) and doing less physical activity (OR = 0.36, p < 0.001). Conclusion: During the first lockdown, significant psychological changes (sadness, distress, irritability) associated with changes in tobacco use and physical activity were reported. Such results should encourage hospital leaders to implement dedicated policies to better accompany hospital workers' psychological distress.

Smell and taste changes are early indicators of the COVID-19 pandemic and political decision effectiveness.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments have taken drastic measures to avoid an overflow of intensive care units. Accurate metrics of disease spread are critical for the reopening strategies. Here, we show that self-reports of smell/taste changes are more closely associated with hospital overload and are earlier markers of the spread of infection of SARS-CoV-2 than current governmental indicators. We also report a decrease in self-reports of new onset smell/taste changes as early as 5 days after lockdown enforcement. Cross-country comparisons demonstrate that countries that adopted the most stringent lockdown measures had faster declines in new reports of smell/taste changes following lockdown than a country that adopted less stringent lockdown measures. We propose that an increase in the incidence of sudden smell and taste change in the general population may be used as an indicator of COVID-19 spread in the population.