Smoking cessation and high-risk drinking increased in lockdown

The percentage of people who reported stopping smoking more than doubled after the Covid-19 lockdown was implemented in March, according to a new study by UCL researchers. The research also found that high-risk drinking increased after lockdown despite the proportion of adults trying to reduce their alcohol intake being twice as high as before lockdown. The study, published today in Addiction, analysed data from the Smoking and Alcohol Toolkit Studies, a series of monthly surveys of adults in England, to see how people's smoking, drinking and quitting behaviour changed from before the March lockdown to after lockdown was implemented. Data was collected between April 2019 and February 2020 and then in April 2020. 1,717 people participated per month on average before lockdown and 1,674 participated in April 2020. The results showed that the rate of quit attempts (any serious attempt to stop smoking in the past year) among smokers increased from 29.1% before lockdown to 39.6% in April 2020. Smoking cessation (people reporting to have quit in the past year) more than doubled from 4.1% before lockdown to 8.8% in April 2020.