DIFFERENCES IN ACUTE ALCOHOL-RELATED HEALTHCARE UTILIZATION COMPARING BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT

Background: Data have shown an increase in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic in North America. While the total number of emergency department (ED) visits decreased during the early pandemic, some studies show that the proportion of alcohol-associated visits increased during this time. There is otherwise a paucity of data on how potentially increased alcohol use during the pandemic has affected healthcare utilization and patient outcomes, especially in patients with liver disease. Methods: Clinical records from a tertiary hospital in Ontario, Canada were reviewed for all adult patients encounters in the ED, urgent care, or inpatient setting for alcohol-associated reasons between April 2019 and October 2019 (pre-pandemic cohort) and between April 2020 and October 2020 (pandemic cohort). Data collected included age, sex, marital status, rurality and socioeconomic status (by postal code-linked national census data), medical history, alcohol consumption habits, use of medications for alcohol use disorder, alcohol-associated diagnosis (based on ICD-10 code), need for intensive care unit admission, consultations made, discharge disposition, and laboratory results. Bivariate chi-squared analysis was performed to compare data from the pre-pandemic and pandemic cohorts. Results: 528 records in the pre-pandemic cohort and 490 records in the pandemic cohort were ed and summarized (Tables 1 and 2). As compared with the pre-pandemic cohort, patients during the pandemic presenting with alcohol-associated diagnoses were older (43 years, IQR 31-57 vs. 38 years, IQR 24-55;p<.001), more likely to be male (66% vs. 55%;p=.001), have a prior history of habitual heavy alcohol use or alcohol use disorder (77% vs. 63%;p<.001), have a history of a psychiatric disorder (56% vs 46%;p=.003), and to have been previously prescribed medication for alcohol use disorder (18% vs. 5%;p<.001). In the pandemic cohort, there was a greater proportion of encounters for alcohol withdrawal (32% vs. 22%;p=.001), a lower proportion of encounters for alcohol intoxication (46% vs. 56%;p<.001), and a similar proportion of encounters for alcohol-associated liver disease (8% vs. 7%;p=.651) compared to the pre-pandemic cohort. Conclusion: Our data show differences in patient characteristics for patients presenting to hospital for alcohol-associated reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic. As compared with the year before the pandemic, patients were older, more often male, and more likely to have history of psychiatric disorders or heavy alcohol use. One concerning finding was a significant rise in alcohol withdrawal, which could potentially be due to increased consumption of alcohol during the pandemic. These data raise concern for an increase in prevalence of alcohol-associated liver disease in the future, highlighting the need for enhanced alcohol addiction services. (Table Presented)