Overall, and as recently postulated (Testino and Pellicano, 2020), harmful drinking may increase the risk of pulmonary infection and worsen COVID-19 prognosis, although this remains hypothetical and unconfirmed by a recent clinical study on lifestyle risk factors (Hamer et al., 2020). In this cohort study, on 387.109 individuals, 760 were hospitalized for COVID-19. Heavy alcohol use (assessed several years before) was not associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for COVID (OR = 1.12 (0.93–1.35)). Heavy alcohol use (assessed several years before) was not associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 infection or COVID-19 related hospitalization (OR = 1.12 (0.93–1.35)). It should be noted that participants had often stopped drinking due to prescribed medication and underlying health conditions.
