AimsTo investigate changes in alcohol consumption during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe as well as its associations with income and experiences of distress related to the pandemic. Design Cross-sectional on-line survey conducted between 24 April and 22 July 2020. Setting Twenty-one European countries. Participants A total of 31 964 adults reporting past-year drinking. Measurements Changes in alcohol consumption

Background: It is known that a range of nonbeverage alcohols including eau-de-colognes and medicinal tinctures are consumed by sections of the Russian population. Research conducted in a city in the Urals (2003Urals ( to 2005 showed that consumption of such products is associated with very high mortality from a wide range of causes. However, there have been no systematic attempts to investigate the extent to which such products are available in other cities of the Russian Federation. There is particular interest in establishing this following the introduction of new federal regulations in January 2006 aimed at restricting the availability of these products.Methods: In the first half of 2007, we conducted a survey in 17 cities that spanned the full range of city types in the Russian Federation excluding those in the Far East. In each city, fieldworkers visited pharmacies and other types of retail outlets and purchased samples of nonbeverage alcohols. These were defined as being typically 10 to 15 roubles per bottle, with an ethanol concentration of at least 60% by volume.Results: We were able to purchase samples of nonbeverage alcohols in each of the 17 cities we investigated. The majority of the 271 products included were a cheaper and more affordable source of ethanol than standard Russian vodka. Medicinal tinctures, sold almost exclusively in pharmacies, were particularly common with an average concentration of 78% ethanol by volume. Most importantly, the majority of the products were of a sort that our previous research in 2004 to 2005 had established were drunk by working-age men.Conclusions: While the 2006 federal regulations introduced in part to reduce the availability and consumption of nonbeverage alcohols may have had some effect on certain classes of nonmedicinal products, up until June 2007 at least, medicinal tinctures as well as some other nonbeverage alcohols that are consumed appear to have been readily available.

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Aims: To investigate the relationship between socio-demographic factors and alcohol drinking patterns identified through a formal analysis of the factor structure of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score in a population sample of working-age men in Russia. Methods: In 2008–2009, a sample of 1005 men aged 25–59 years living in Izhevsk, Russia were interviewed and information collected about socio-demographic circumstances. Responses to the AUDIT questions were obtained through a self-completed questionnaire. Latent dimensions of the AUDIT score were determined using confirmatory factor analysis and expressed as standard deviation (SD) units. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the strength of association of these dimensions with socio-demographic variables. Results: The AUDIT was found to have a two-factor structure: alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Both dimensions were higher in men who were unemployed seeking work compared with those in regular paid employment. For consumption, there was a difference of 0.59 SDs, (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.23, 0.88) and for alcohol-related problems one of 0.66 SD (95% CI: 0.31, 1.00). Alcohol-related problems were greater among less educated compared with more educated men (P-value for trend = 0.05), while consumption was not related to education. Similar results were found for associations with an amenity index based on car ownership and central heating. Neither dimension was associated with marital status. While we found evidence that the consumption component of AUDIT was underestimated, this did not appear to explain the associations of this dimension with socio-demographic factors. Conclusions: Education and amenity index, both measures of socio-economic position, were inversely associated with alcohol-related problems but not with consumption. This discordance suggests that self-reported questions on frequency and volume may be less sensitive markers of socio-economic variation in drinking than are questions about dependence and harm. Further investigation of the validity of the consumption component of AUDIT in Russia is warranted as it appears that the concept of a standard ‘drink’ as used in the instrument is not understood.