Ethanol Dependence in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Comparative Study between January-March 2019-2021

Abstract

In Romania, alcohol is the most used substance of abuse and at the same time the most culturally acceptable, the abusive consumption of ethanol by individuals has a significant role in increasing the number of presentations in psychiatric services. The objective of this paper is to establish a comparison in the dynamics of presentations of chronic alcohol users at the 'Elisabeta Doamna' Psychiatriy Hospital in Galati, from January 1 to March 30, 2019-1 to January 30, March 2021. The retrospective study consists in comparing the group of patients presented between January 1, 2019 and March 30, 2019 with the group of patients presented between January 1, 2021 and March 30, 2021 in the 'Elisabeta Doamna' Psychiatriy Hospital in Galati. The inclusion criteria were: county, gender, age, date of presentation, time of presentation, environment of origin, disorders related to alcohol consumption (F10.0-F10.9). All patients with psychiatric diagnoses who did not have alcohol-related disorders were excluded. The data was processed statistically using Microsoft Office-Excel, SOFA - Statistics Open For All version 1.5.4. Between January and March 2019 there were 671 presentations due to alcohol-related disorders, of which 222 (33.1%) patients from rural areas and 449 (66.9%) from urban areas, compared to the period January-March 2021, when the total number of presentations due to alcohol-related disorders was 660, of which 204 (31%) patients were from rural areas, and 456 (69%) came from urban areas.

Keywords

• alcohol
• covid-19
• pandemic
• psychiatry