{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T19:05:18Z","timestamp":1792004718209,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,23]],"date-time":"2025-11-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763856000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,23]],"date-time":"2025-11-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763856000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000289","name":"Cancer Research UK","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PRCRPG\u2010Nov21\\100002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PRCRPG\u2010Nov21\\100002"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000289","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Addiction"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aim<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To determine whether alcohol consumption in England had returned to pre\u2010pandemic levels by December 2024, after the initial rise in 2020 across the total population and subgroups.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Monthly representative surveys were conducted through face\u2010to\u2010face interviews until February 2020, and then by telephone.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>England, March 2014 to December 2024.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>208\u2009010 adults aged 18+\u2009living in private households.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Measurements<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Mean weekly alcohol consumption (in UK units), prevalence of risky drinking (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption [AUDIT\u2010C] score\u22655), and possible dependence (AUDIT\u2010C\u2009\u2265\u200911). Further measures included age, gender, and social grade.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Findings<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>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\u00a0units to 6.6\u00a0units). When adjusting for the survey mode change from face\u2010to\u2010face to telephone interviews, the step changes between February and April 2020 remained but were substantially attenuated. The post\u2010pandemic trend declined more quickly than the pre\u2010pandemic trend for the prevalence of risky drinking (difference: \u22121.5%\/year, 95% CI: \u22122.4, \u22120.6) and mean weekly alcohol consumption (difference: \u22122.4%\/year, 95% CI: \u22123.3, \u22121.6), indicating a slow but incomplete return to pre\u2010pandemic levels. The trend in prevalence of possible dependence was similarly stable before and after the pandemic (difference: \u22121.3%\/year, 95% CI: \u22126.2, 3.8). Alcohol consumption declined more slowly among people from less advantaged than from more advantaged social grades.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The prevalence of risky drinking and mean weekly alcohol consumption in England appear to be trending towards pre\u2010pandemic 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\u2010pandemic levels. Alcohol\u2010related inequalities may be worsening due to slower declines in consumption following the pandemic among less advantaged drinkers.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/add.70258","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,23]],"date-time":"2025-11-23T23:59:51Z","timestamp":1763942391000},"page":"839-850","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Has alcohol consumption in England returned to pre\u2010COVID\u201019 pandemic levels? A monthly population study, 2014 to 2024"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"121","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9963-8693","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vera Helen","family":"Buss","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Behavioural Science and Health University College London  London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"},{"name":"SPECTRUM Research Consortium  Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5353-9152","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Melissa","family":"Oldham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Behavioural Science and Health University College London  London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"},{"name":"SPECTRUM Research Consortium  Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5658-6168","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah E.","family":"Jackson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Behavioural Science and Health University College London  London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"},{"name":"SPECTRUM Research Consortium  Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4033-442X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lion","family":"Shahab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Behavioural Science and Health University College London  London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"},{"name":"SPECTRUM Research Consortium  Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0529-4135","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Colin","family":"Angus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SPECTRUM Research Consortium  Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"},{"name":"School of Medicine and Population Health University of Sheffield  Sheffield United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9283-2151","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John","family":"Holmes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SPECTRUM Research Consortium  Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"},{"name":"School of Medicine and Population Health University of Sheffield  Sheffield United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2797-5428","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jamie","family":"Brown","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Behavioural Science and Health University College London  London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"},{"name":"SPECTRUM Research Consortium  Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(24)00933-4"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","unstructured":"Office for National Statistics.Alcohol\u2010specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2020. 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