key: cord-1056096-3dp1p854 authors: Peshkovskaya, Anastasia title: Letter to the editor: Other pandemic. Underestimated public health crisis date: 2021-10-20 journal: J Psychiatr Res DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.10.038 sha: 80fb009ea37dc2891b82f6e4044251d6b9b2b6b3 doc_id: 1056096 cord_uid: 3dp1p854 nan Letter to the editor: Other Pandemic. Underestimated Public Health Crisis COVID-19 pandemic extraordinarily heightened alcohol consumption rates worldwide. A more than one year after the coronavirus outbreak and 477% increase in online alcohol sales reported by end of April 2020 (Nielsen, 2020), the overwhelming gap in knowledge of pandemic impact on alcohol use and health is still exists. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 30% of the U.S. survey participants (n=1,567) reported increasing in drinking alcohol due to stress, loneliness and depression symptoms (Veldhuis et al., 2021) . Even at five-month follow-up, their high rates of depression and anxiety led to use substance to cope. In parallel, APA's survey (n=3,013) conducted in late impoverished groups who were systematically exposed to traumatic impact of alcohol and drug use stereotypes, health care access inequality, and adverse effects of discrimination, stigma and racism may be affected in unprecedented scale. Some of recent reports have already disclosed that people of color and sexual and gender minorities appeared to be at higher risk of distress amid pandemicintensified or newly initiated substance use was reported in more than Strategies that focus on these might be beneficial as the COVID crisis continues and should be included in the pandemic response plan. The Nielsen Company Rebalancing the 'COVID-19 Effect' on Alcohol Sales Addressing the critical need for longterm mental health data during the COVID-19 pandemic: Changes in mental health from Self-reported alcohol, tobacco, and Cannabis use during COVID-19 lockdown measures: results from a web-based survey Changes in Adult Alcohol Use and Consequences During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US Drinking to cope with the pandemic: The unique associations of COVID-19-related perceived threat and psychological distress to drinking behaviors in American men and women Effects of biopsychosocial factors on the association between loneliness and mental health risks during the COVID-19 lockdown Availability of Illegal Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Western Germany Gender-Based Violence Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women: A Neglected Consequence of the West African Ebola Outbreak Global Maternal and Child Health (Medical, Anthropological, and Public Health Perspectives) Discrimination, and Hate Crimes in Chinese-Speaking World amid Covid-19 Pandemic Migration experience and mental health: A qualitative study in France and Brazil The mental health of those whose rights have been taken away: An essay on the mental health of indigenous peoples in the face of the 2019 Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak Ethnoterritorial heterogeneity of alcohol dependence formation in the native population of Siberia Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Prevalence of Stress and Worry, Mental Health Conditions, and Increased Substance Use Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic -United States Covid-19: EU states report 60% rise in emergency calls about domestic violence COVID-19 pandemic and alcohol consumption: Impacts and interconnections Acknowledgement I thank Dzmitry Krupchanka and Norman Sartorius for valuable comments regarding widening this article scope. No funding by any agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. ☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:No competing interests exist. I report no funding by any agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.