Project Summary
Beyond the impact of infection itself, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in far-reaching effects on
behavioral, social, psychiatric, and substance use outcomes. Early data has documented increases in alcohol
use in the wake of the pandemic, consistent with prior evidence of increased alcohol consumption during times
of stress and following traumatic events. Immediate and downstream implications of increased alcohol use, and
development of alcohol use disorder (AUD), on public health include the interplay between alcohol use and
psychiatric distress (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder; PTSD), potential for problematic alcohol use to increase
behavioral risk for infection/transmission of COVID-19, and the possibility that weakened immune systems and
health conditions associated with AUD may impact disease severity in those who develop COVID-19. The
overarching goals of this K01 Supplement are twofold. First, this supplement aims to extend the PI's training to
incorporate health impacts of AUD and how it relates to COVID-19 risk and severity, along with analytic training
in longitudinal modeling and methodological training in an intensive time-series data collection method to try and
develop a mechanistic understanding of the functional relations between alcohol use, PTSD, risky behaviors,
and health outcomes. Second, two new research aims associated with these training aims were added which
seek to address gaps in the current stress and alcohol use literature by leveraging an existing, longitudinal
dataset, with prospective (i.e., pre-pandemic) data. The two new research aims are to 1) assess the immediate,
and trajectory of, COVID-19 impacts on alcohol phenotypes (e.g., consumption, binge drinking, problems) in
comparison to pre-pandemic data and 2) in the context of COVID-19 as an ongoing stressor, collect repeated,
time-series data to examine the temporal relations between alcohol phenotypes, PTSD, and COVID-specific
risky behaviors (e.g., lack of social distancing). To achieve these training and research aims, an additional mentor
with expertise in both the health impact of AUD and COVID-19 treatment trials has been added to the
multidisciplinary mentorship team. Further, the PI's primary K01 mentor has specific expertise in the
implementation of COVID-19 surveys on substance and mental health outcomes and experience with time-series
data collection in traumatic stress populations. The proposed research represents an important contribution
towards advancing our understanding of the complicated interrelationship between AUD, PTSD, and risky
behaviors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to determine not only who is at risk, but when risk behaviors
occur. This information will be important for attempts to plan for a public health response during and after the
pandemic. Under the umbrella of a career development award, this pilot data will inform future large-scale studies
and R-level grants aimed at identification and prevention of COVID-19-related impact, further positioning the PI
to continue this line of work by adapting ongoing training to be responsive to medical pandemics and decrease
the burden of alcohol-related problems, consistent with NIAAA research priority.