The Interaction between Education and Sex with Alcohol Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Two Brazilian Cities

Abstract

This cross-sectional study, carried out between October and December 2020 in two Brazilian cities, aimed to evaluate the joint association of education and sex with habitual and episodic excessive alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. Habitual alcohol consumption was defined as drinking any quantity of alcohol at least once per week. Excessive episodic alcohol consumption was defined as the consumption of five or more drinks by men or four or more drinks by women at least once in the last 30 days. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze associations of education and sex with alcohol consumption. Education was not associated with habitual alcohol consumption and excessive episodic alcohol consumption. However, when evaluating the joint effect between education and sex, it can be seen that men with low education were more likely to habitually consume (OR: 5.85; CI95:2.74–14.84) and abuse alcohol (OR: 4.45; IC95:1.54–12.82) and women with high education were more likely to have habitual (OR: 2.16; IC95:1.18–3.95) and abusive alcohol consumption (OR: 2.00; IC95:1.16–3.43). These findings highlight the modifying effect of sex on the relationship between education and alcohol consumption, such that education influenced alcohol consumption differently between sexes during the pandemic.