The impact of Covid-19 on people under opioid substitution treatment

Association between prolonged stress caused by COVID-19 pandemic and earthquakes and quality of life, anxiety, depression, psychoactive substances, and problematic alcohol use in adult Croatian population

“…As alcohol is a highly available and widely accepted substance in Croatia ( 40 ), the focus of our study was on PAU measured using the CAGE Alcohol Questionnaire. The observed association of lower QoL and mental health (anxiety and depression) corresponded to the previous research findings ( 21 , 41 – 44 ). Other studies also found decreased QoL in individuals with alcohol use disorder ( 20 ), individuals with PSU ( 22 ), individuals on opioid substitution therapy ( 21 ), and tobacco smokers ( 24 ) during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…The observed association of lower QoL and mental health (anxiety and depression) corresponded to the previous research findings ( 21 , 41 – 44 ). Other studies also found decreased QoL in individuals with alcohol use disorder ( 20 ), individuals with PSU ( 22 ), individuals on opioid substitution therapy ( 21 ), and tobacco smokers ( 24 ) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An Italian study reported that a moderate psychopathological burden (anxiety and depressive symptomatology, somatization, irritability, and post-traumatic symptoms) correlated with poor QoL and low craving scores during the lockdown in individuals with substance use disorders ( 45 ).…”

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, QoL was decreased in individuals with non-treated alcohol use disorder ( 20 ) and individuals on opioid substitution therapy ( 21 ). Insufficient sleep was associated with a lower QoL score and psychoactive substance use (PSU) among Polish students ( 22 ).…”

Potential impact of COVID-19 on drugs of abuse consumption

“…To the Editors, Tzeferakos et al highlighted that drugs of abuse consumption may have substantially varied during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 1 To provide additional insights on this matter, we accessed Google Trends (Google Inc. Mountain View, CA, US) using the keywords "cannabis," "cocaine," and "heroin" under the specification "drug" (and thereby overcoming potential language differences), setting the geographical location to either "United States" (US) or "worldwide", within the past 5 years (i.e., from July 2017 to July 2022). The weekly Google Trends score for these search terms, thus reflecting their Web popularity and consumption, 2 was downloaded into a Microsoft Excel file (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, United States).…”