COVID Impacts on Alcohol Use in Communities Affected by Repeated Disasters

总结/摘要 过度饮酒是美国的一个主要问题，特别是在沿海地区。 在墨西哥湾周边的社区，近四分之一的居民筛查呈阳性， 滥用酒精与COVID-19疫情相关的压力源及相关应对政策 (e.g.,呆在家里的命令，关闭学校和企业）可能增加了酒精滥用 特别是对于那些受到大流行病和失业影响的人，如种族/族裔 少数民族和妇女。本提案涉及NOT-AA-20中所述的NIAAA优先事项， 011，帮助为新冠肺炎等突发公共卫生事件奠定基础。我们计划 研究脆弱的墨西哥湾沿岸地区酒精消费变化的模式和预测因素 在大流行期间，包括在疫苗和新变种出现时， 失业问题依然存在。在灾害研究中，前瞻性研究是罕见的，但拟议中的研究 将通过从现有的人口中收集两波新的调查数据来解决这一差距， 自2016年以来，我们一直通过 海湾地区创伤、复原力和机会调查（STRONG）。新 这项工作将建立在广泛的基线数据上， 历史、灾难暴露和社会资源。拟议的工作还建立在我们团队的 酒精滥用纵向研究的生产线，包括研究 个人和社区一级风险因素之间的相互作用，压力和创伤的作用， 心理健康症状的同时出现，以及对风险和灾害的心理社会反应， 墨西哥湾沿岸地区。COVID-19独有的两个因素是失业率大幅上升， 由于呆在家里的命令，人们越来越感到孤独，这两种情况都可能改变人们的生活。 饮酒行为通过两次新的调查，我们将： COVID-19发病后饮酒的频率和数量;检查 个人内部酒精滥用的变化轨迹;确定COVID-19前的预测因素 变化模式（例如，人口统计学特征，累积创伤暴露，共现 精神健康症状）;并确定是否与COVID-19相关的损失（即，失业， 孤独）预测随着时间的推移酒精使用的变化。现有数据和新数据将通过 共同的答复者标识符，并进行地理编码，为公众提供独特的资源， 卫生研究和应对措施。这项研究的结果可以显着推进科学 知识和临床实践的脆弱的墨西哥湾沿岸居民。

Summary/Abstract Excessive drinking is a major problem in the United States, particularly among coastal communities surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, where nearly one in four residents screen positive for alcohol misuse. Stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated response policies (e.g., stay-at-home orders, closure of schools and businesses) may have increased alcohol misuse particularly for those disproportionately affected by the pandemic and job loss, like racial/ethnic minorities and women. This proposal addresses the NIAAA priorities described in NOT-AA-20- 011, helping to lay groundwork for public health emergencies such as COVID-19. We plan to examine patterns and predictors of change in alcohol consumption in vulnerable Gulf Coast communities over the course of the pandemic, including as vaccines and new variants emerge and unemployment persists. Prospective studies are rare in disaster research, but the proposed study will address this gap by collecting two new waves of survey data from an existing, population representative cohort of 2,520 Gulf Coast residents we have been following since 2016 via the Survey of Trauma, Resilience, and Opportunity in Neighborhoods in the Gulf (STRONG). The new work will build on extensive baseline data about mental health, alcohol misuse, employment history, disaster exposure, and social resources. The proposed work also builds on our team's productive line of longitudinal studies of alcohol misuse, including studies examining interactions between individual- and community-level risk factors, the role of stress and trauma, co-occurrence of mental health symptoms, and psychosocial reactions to risks and disasters in the Gulf Coast region. Two factors unique to COVID-19 are massive increases in unemployment and growing feelings of loneliness caused by stay-at-home orders, both of which might change people's drinking behavior. Through two new survey waves we will: estimate the magnitude of changes in frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption following the onset of COVID-19; examine trajectories of change in alcohol misuse within individuals; identify pre-COVID-19 predictors of patterns of change (e.g., demographic characteristics, cumulative trauma exposure, co-occurring mental health symptoms); and determine whether COVID-19-related losses (i.e., unemployment, loneliness) predict change in alcohol use over time. Existing and new data will be mergeable via a common respondent identifiers and also be geocoded, providing a unique resource for public health research and response. Results from this study could significantly advance scientific knowledge and clinical practice for vulnerable Gulf Coast residents.