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Global changes and factors of increase in caloric/salty food intake, screen use, and substance use during the early COVID-19 containment phase in the general population in France: Survey study
Countries around the world imposed several quarantine measures due to COVID-19. Sudden lockdown measures were postulated to enhance addiction-related behaviors, for example, screen use, caloric/salty food consumption, and substance use. In this study by Rolland et al. (2020), the authors investigated the changes in, and factors enhancing, addiction-related habits during the early COVID-19 containment phase in a population of 11391 French participants. During the study, the participants filled out web-based surveys for six days (days 8 to 13 of the COVID-19 containment), providing data on socio-demographics, general stress, psychiatric/addiction history, lockdown conditions, mental well-being, and changes in addiction-related behaviors. Analysis of the results revealed that study participants had enhanced addiction-related behaviors during the containment period, with increases observed in screen use, caloric/salty food, alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use. In addition, the participants demonstrated a reduction in well-being scores and an increase in stress scores in conjunction with the rise in addiction-related behaviors. Females, young participants (<29), presence of a partner, small space confinement, solitary lockdown, and current or past history of receiving psychiatric treatment was associated with an increase in caloric/salty food intake, while female gender, age < 29, employment, having no partner, quarantine without access to outdoor spaces, intermediate/high education level, lockdown alone, unemployment and residing in urban environments were factors associated with an increase in screen time. Tobacco use was increased in participants who had no partners, females, employment in a workplace, and had an intermediate/low education level, while alcohol use was increased in individuals 30 to 49 years of age (n = 7108), currently receiving psychiatric treatment and highly educated. Finally, cannabis use was noted to increase in individuals who had an intermediate to low level of education. The authors conclude that the early phase of COVID-19 confinement was associated with an overall increase in several addiction-related habits, stress levels, and a reduction in well-being. [NPID: COVID-19, containment, eating behaviors, screen use, internet use, substance use, public health, mental health, pandemic, lifestyle, online survey, addiction]
Year: 2020
