Daily alcohol consumption among UK homeless people during COVID-19: a latent class and cross-sectional study
Daily alcohol consumption among UK homeless people during COVID-19: a latent class and cross-sectional study
Background: alcohol consumption and related issues among the homeless population are key public health concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic may have altered drinking patterns among homeless people. We aimed to examine the drinking patterns of homeless people and their association with housing status.
Methods: 1129 participants (82·5% female) from the COVID-19 Homeless Rapid Integrated Screening Protocol (CHRISP) study reported their drinking behaviours (i.e, daily drinking, drinking after waking up, alcohol-related injury, and getting help to stop drinking) and their past housing status (e.g, rough sleeping, with family/friends, and prison). Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to assess the daily drinking patterns and multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between housing status and daily drinking patterns.
Findings: the prevalence of daily drinking was 14·3%. There were significant gender differences in alcohol-related injury and getting help to reduce/stop drinking (both p<0·05). The LCA identified an optimal three-class model: a high daily consumption group (Class 1, 7·6%), a low daily consumption group with alcohol-related injury (Class 2, 7·1%), and a low daily consumption group without negative consequences (Class 3, 85·3%). Using class 3 as the baseline, people who have lived in prison, as opposed to family/friends (reference group), were 8·6 times more likely to be classified into the high daily consumption group (Class 1). No significant drinking pattern differences were found between the reference group and other housing statuses.
Interpretation: the prevalence of daily drinking among the UK homeless population during COVID-19 has been assessed for the first time. The findings suggest that different housing statuses are associated with different drinking patterns, and history of prison residence may reflect broader vulnerabilities or disadvantages. Authorities should enhance support for individuals leaving prison, including referrals and follow-up to alcohol and drug rehabilitation services.
Funding: no funding was received in this study.
Sun, Hongyi
f8ca1e0e-b073-49c2-a489-4d0cbc27b4f1
Britton, Annie
64bf777b-b25e-463a-8d16-33ba2e3e019c
Sun, Hongyi
f8ca1e0e-b073-49c2-a489-4d0cbc27b4f1
Britton, Annie
64bf777b-b25e-463a-8d16-33ba2e3e019c
Sun, Hongyi and Britton, Annie
(2024)
Daily alcohol consumption among UK homeless people during COVID-19: a latent class and cross-sectional study.
The Lancet, 404 (S49).
(doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02001-4).
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Meeting abstract
Abstract
Background: alcohol consumption and related issues among the homeless population are key public health concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic may have altered drinking patterns among homeless people. We aimed to examine the drinking patterns of homeless people and their association with housing status.
Methods: 1129 participants (82·5% female) from the COVID-19 Homeless Rapid Integrated Screening Protocol (CHRISP) study reported their drinking behaviours (i.e, daily drinking, drinking after waking up, alcohol-related injury, and getting help to stop drinking) and their past housing status (e.g, rough sleeping, with family/friends, and prison). Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to assess the daily drinking patterns and multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between housing status and daily drinking patterns.
Findings: the prevalence of daily drinking was 14·3%. There were significant gender differences in alcohol-related injury and getting help to reduce/stop drinking (both p<0·05). The LCA identified an optimal three-class model: a high daily consumption group (Class 1, 7·6%), a low daily consumption group with alcohol-related injury (Class 2, 7·1%), and a low daily consumption group without negative consequences (Class 3, 85·3%). Using class 3 as the baseline, people who have lived in prison, as opposed to family/friends (reference group), were 8·6 times more likely to be classified into the high daily consumption group (Class 1). No significant drinking pattern differences were found between the reference group and other housing statuses.
Interpretation: the prevalence of daily drinking among the UK homeless population during COVID-19 has been assessed for the first time. The findings suggest that different housing statuses are associated with different drinking patterns, and history of prison residence may reflect broader vulnerabilities or disadvantages. Authorities should enhance support for individuals leaving prison, including referrals and follow-up to alcohol and drug rehabilitation services.
Funding: no funding was received in this study.
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Accepted manuscript_R1_20240628_Clean Version
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e-pub ahead of print date: 29 November 2024
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 497229
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/497229
ISSN: 0140-6736
PURE UUID: 0f73b90f-27f1-4ab4-bc9d-259bc597c145
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Date deposited: 16 Jan 2025 17:35
Last modified: 18 Jan 2025 03:15
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Author:
Hongyi Sun
Author:
Annie Britton
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