JMIR Form Res. 2022 Oct 19. doi: 10.2196/40518. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether heavy alcohol use and associated hangover symptoms changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to a lack of available accurate and non-retrospective self-reported data, it is difficult to directly assess hangover symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
OBJECTIVE: To examine whether alcohol induced hangover-related internet searches (e.g. ‘how to cure a hangover?’) increased, decreased or remained the same in England before vs. during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) and during periods of national lockdown. Secondary aims were to examine if hangover-related internet searches differed in England to a country that did not impose similar COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
METHODS: Using historical data from Google Trends for England, we compared relative search volume (RSV) of hangover-related searches in the years before (2016-2019) vs. during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), as well as in periods of national lockdown vs. the same periods in 2016-2019. We also compared RSV of hangover-related searches during the same time frames in a European country that did not introduce national COVID-19 lockdowns at the beginning of the pandemic (Sweden). Hangover-related search terms were identified through consultation with a panel of alcohol researchers and a sample from the general public. Statistical analyses were pre-registered prior to data collection.
RESULTS: There was no overall significant difference in RSV of hangover-related terms in England during 2016-2019 vs. 2020-2021 (P = .104, robust d = 0.02 [95% CI: 0.00 – 0.03]). However, during national lockdowns searches for hangover-related terms were lower, particularly during the first national lockdown in England (P < .001, d = .19 [95% CI: 0.16 – 0.24, relative 44% decrease]. In a comparison country that did not introduce a national lockdown in the early stages of the pandemic (Sweden) there was no significant decrease in hangover-related during the same time period. However, across both England and Sweden, during later periods of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021 RSV of hangover-related terms was lower than in the same periods during 2016-2019. Exploratory analyses revealed that national monthly variation in alcohol sales both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were positively correlated with frequency of hangover-related searches, suggesting changes in hangover-related searches may act as a proxy for changes in alcohol consumption.
CONCLUSIONS: Hangover-related internet searches did not differ pre vs. during the COVID-19 pandemic in England but did reduce during periods of national lockdown. Further research is required to confirm how changes in hangover-related search volume relate to heavy episodic alcohol use.
CLINICALTRIAL: The study protocol and analysis strategy was pre-registered on the Open Science Framework (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/2Y86E).
PMID:36827489 | DOI:10.2196/40518
