Evidence suggests that changes in alcohol consumption during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic were unevenly distributed over consumer groups. We investigated possible inter-country differences in how changes in alcohol consumption are contingent on initial consumption (before or at the start of the pandemic), and how changes in consumption translate into possible changes in the prevalence of heavy drinking. We used data from the European Survey on Alcohol use and COVID-19 (ESAC) conducted in Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain, and the UK (N = 31921). Past-year alcohol consumption and changes in consumption were measured by AUDIT-C. Drinking habits were compared according to percentiles of pre-pandemic consumption levels, below versus above the 90th percentile. Across countries, drinkers in the highest 10% for pre-pandemic consumption increased their drinking during the pandemic, whereas absolute changes among those initially drinking below this level were modest. The percentage of people reporting >28 alcohol units/week increased significantly in seven of eight countries. During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption in the upper decile of the drinkers increased as did the prevalence of heavy drinkers, in contrast with a declining consumption in other groups in the sample.

Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research Aarhus University 2400 Copenhagen Denmark

Centre for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf 20246 Hamburg Germany

Clínic Foundation for Biomedical Research 08037 Barcelona Spain

Clinical Addictions Research Group Psychiatry Department Neurosciences Institute Hospital Clínic Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer University of Barcelona 08037 Barcelona Spain

Department of Addictology 1st Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital Prague Charles University 12800 Praha Czech Republic

Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Drugs Norwegian Institute of Public Health 0213 Oslo Norway

Department of Psychiatry Medical Faculty University of Leipzig 04103 Leipzig Germany

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare 00271 Helsinki Finland

Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Technische Universität Dresden 01187 Dresden Germany

Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology 02 957 Warsaw Poland

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