Alcohol Use Increases among People Living with HIV during Stay-at-home Order

Researchers at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans honed in on one population particularly at risk during the pandemic: people living with HIV with at-risk alcohol use. They surveyed 80 people living with HIV in Louisiana during that state’s stay-at-home order, recruiting participants from the ongoing longitudinal Aging in Louisiana: Immunosenescence, HIV and Socioenvironmental Factors-Exercise (ALIVE-Ex) study. The respondents were categorized by their pre-pandemic alcohol use as low or at risk. Both low- and at-risk groups reported greater frequency of becoming drunk or tipsy during the stay-at-home order, with the greatest increase being in the at-risk group. The at-risk group also reported less healthy dietary and physical activity habits during the order. The researchers urge “consideration of patients’ alcohol use habits and the need for integrative interventions to encourage healthy eating and physical activity, especially when self-isolating or under stressful conditions such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The research will be presented virtually at the American Physiological Society (APS) Integrative Physiology of Exercise (IPE) conference. Request the Abstract: “Stay-At-Home Mandate during COVID-19 Pandemic Negatively Impacted Dietary, Activity, and Alcohol Use Patterns in People Living with HIV with At-risk Alcohol Use”