Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Two Chilean Universities

October 6, 2021 updated by: Francisca Roman, Universidad de La Frontera

Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Two Chilean Universities: a Difference-in-difference Analysis

This is a longitudinal study of participants from two university communities in Chile. The primary objective is to examine the effect of a regional lockdown on alcohol and tobacco use, using a difference-in-difference analysis to obtain causal estimates of these COVID-19 policies.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading worldwide. Countries have adopted public health and social measures that, together with a direct effect of the pandemic, can affect alcohol and tobacco use. The most stringent measures are lockdowns and curfews that include statutory restrictions on people's mobility. Research to date has shown mixed effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns on alcohol and tobacco use. Importantly, previous studies have not been able to differentiate the effects of the pandemic itself with those from lockdown and curfew policies. They have also been restricted to countries in Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

The study will advance prior knowledge by providing evidence from a country in Latin America, one of the worst-hit regions worldwide. Latin America accounts for 8.4% of the global population, but 20.3% of the total SARS-COV2 cases and 30.2% of the COVID-19 deaths to date. In addition, the study will exploit the variation in lockdown policies in two regions in Chile to disentangle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic with those from a lockdown.

The aim of the study is to examine the effect of a regional lockdown on alcohol use in two university populations in the Araucanía and Coquimbo regions in Chile. The investigators will use a difference-in-difference analysis to obtain causal estimates of these COVID-19 policies.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

1038

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Chile
      • Coquimbo, Chile
        • Universidad Católica del Norte
    • Araucanía
      • Temuco, Araucanía, Chile
        • Universidad de La Frontera

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study population are students, academics and administrative personnel of two universities in Chile

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • People with study rights either at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels by July 27, 2020 at the Universidad de la Frontera or Universidad Católica del Norte; OR
  • Workers with a full-time or part-time contract with either University, including academics, administrative and assistant personnel; AND
  • Having an email registered in the Human Resource Office of each university

Exclusion Criteria:

  • People without valid study rights at either university
  • People without a working contract with the university
  • Not having an email registered at the Human Resource Office

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Students and academics Universidad La Frontera
The intervention consists of social distancing measures to curb the viral transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The Araucanía region was subject to lockdown in a different moment than the Coquimbo region, creating exogenous variation.
Behavioral: Lockdown and other social distancing measures
During the study period, the Chilean Ministry of Health established a five-step process for social distancing measures. These ranged from full lockdown (step 1) to almost no restrictions (step 5). Even under full lockdown, citizens were able to obtain permits for essential activities. Citizens had a maximum of two permits per week and were obtained in a virtual station of the Chilean Police Force (Carabineros de Chile).
Students and academics Universidad Católica del Norte
The intervention consists of social distancing measures to curb the viral transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The Coquimbo region was subject to lockdown in a different moment than the Araucanía region, creating exogenous variation.
Behavioral: Lockdown and other social distancing measures
During the study period, the Chilean Ministry of Health established a five-step process for social distancing measures. These ranged from full lockdown (step 1) to almost no restrictions (step 5). Even under full lockdown, citizens were able to obtain permits for essential activities. Citizens had a maximum of two permits per week and were obtained in a virtual station of the Chilean Police Force (Carabineros de Chile).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Weekly grams of alcohol use
Time Frame: Last week
Consumption of alcohol during the past week measured in grams of pure alcohol
Last week
Frequency of heavy episodic drinking in the past month
Time Frame: Last 30 days
Frequency of consumption of five or more drinks on a single occasion during the past 30 days [response range 0 to 10 and more times]
Last 30 days
Quantity of cigarettes per day
Time Frame: Last week
Average daily consumption of cigarettes during the last week
Last week

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Universidad de La Frontera

Collaborators

Universidad Católica del Norte

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Francisca Román, PhD, Universidad de La Frontera

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 3, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 30, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

April 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 5, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 5, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

October 6, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 14, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 6, 2021

Last Verified

October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ANID - COVID0282

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Deanonymized data is available upon contact with the Principal Investigator

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Immediately

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Collaboration agreement between the interested institution and the Universidad de la Frontera

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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