Factors associated with drinking behaviour during COVID-19 social distancing and lockdown among adults in the UK

  1. Claire Garnett
  2. Sarah Jackson
  3. Melissa Oldham
  4. Jamie Brown
  5. Andrew Steptoe
  6. Daisy Fancourt

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Abstract

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.22.20199430: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    For full details on the recruitment strategies and weighting for the study, visit www.covidsocialstudy.org. Measures: Analyses: The protocol and analysis plan was pre-registered on Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/pnrhq/).
    Measures
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Strengths and limitations: A key strength of this study was the large sample size and broad range of measures collected, permitting this detailed analysis of potential factors predicting drinking behaviour during the start of social distancing and lockdown in the UK. The collection of data in real time while the pandemic was at its peak was also a strength, minimising potential recall bias that is likely to be present in any future studies that collect data retrospectively. Another major strength of this study was being able to assess how sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19-related impacts, such as key worker status, were associated with changes in alcohol consumption – an important area of research highlighted in a recent report by the Institute of Alcohol Studies [8]. A limitation of this study relates to the alcohol consumption measures used. The measure of changes in drinking over the past week did not distinguish between changes in frequency of consumption, quantity per occasion or heavy episodic drinking, which is an important topic for future research. Furthermore, the changes in drinking measure used the reference ‘usual drinking’ rather than specifying before lockdown. Though the study period was chosen as the start of social distancing and lockdown in the UK and therefore we have assumed that participants interpreted ‘usual’ as meaning before lockdown restrictions were introduced in the UK. The measure of heaviness of drinking asks about the number of alco...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108461
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.09.22.20199430v1 on medRxiv