Buss, Vera; Oldham, Melissa; Jackson, Sarah; Shahab, Lion; Angus, Colin; Holmes, John; Brown, Jamie; (2025) Has alcohol consumption in England returned to pre-COVID19 pandemic levels? A monthly population study, 2014-2024. Addiction (In press).

Text ADD-25-0091.R2_Proof_hi.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 16 March 2026. Download (2MB)

Abstract

Aim: To determine whether alcohol consumption in England had returned to pre-pandemic levels by December 2024, after the initial rise in 2020 across the total population and subgroups. / / Design: Monthly representative surveys were conducted through face-to-face interviews until February 2020, and then by telephone. / / Setting: England, March 2014 to December 2024. / / Participants: 208,010 adults aged 18+ living in private households. / / Measurements: Mean weekly alcohol consumption (in UK units), prevalence of risky drinking (Alcohol use disorders identification test for consumption (AUDIT-C) score ≥5), and possible dependence (AUDIT-C ≥11). Further measures included age, gender, and social grade. / / Findings: All outcomes increased in April 2020: prevalence of risky drinking by 30.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 26.8, 33.8, from 26.2% in February 2020 to 34.0% in April 2020), prevalence of possible dependence by 90.2% (95% CI: 62.2, 122.9, from 0.9% to 1.7%) and mean weekly alcohol consumption by 34.5% (95% CI: 31.0, 38.0, from 5.0 units to 6.6 units). When adjusting for the survey mode change from face-to-face to telephone interviews, the step changes between February and April 2020 remained but were substantially attenuated. The post-pandemic trend declined more quickly than the pre-pandemic trend for the prevalence of risky drinking (difference: -1.5%/year, 95% CI: -2.4, -0.6) and mean weekly alcohol consumption (difference: -2.4%/year, 95% CI: -3.3, -1.6), indicating a slow but incomplete return to pre-pandemic levels. The trend in prevalence of possible dependence was similarly stable before and after the pandemic (difference: -1.3%/year, 95% CI: -6.2, 3.8). Alcohol consumption declined more slowly among people from less advantaged than from more advantaged social grades. / / Conclusions: The prevalence of risky drinking and mean weekly alcohol consumption in England appear to be trending towards pre-pandemic levels but the prevalence of dependent drinking in England appears to have increased since the start of the pandemic and remains elevated compared with pre-pandemic levels. Alcohol-related inequalities may be worsening due to slower declines in consumption following the pandemic among less advantaged drinkers.

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