["Addiction, Volume 121, Issue 5, Page 1190-1198, May 2026. ", "\nAbstract\n\nBackground and Aims\nAlcohol use disorder (AUD) may induce angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) overexpression, potentially increasing vulnerability to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 infection. However, the relationship between AUD and the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infection remains unclear. This study aimed to measure the association between AUD and the incidence of COVID‐19 infection.\n\n\nDesign\nWe identified 247 000 individuals with AUD between 2001 and 2019 from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Another 2 470 000 age‐ and sex‐matched controls without AUD were randomly selected for comparison. All study participants were followed up until the occurrence of new‐onset COVID‐19 infection, death, or December 31, 2021.\n\n\nSetting\nTaiwan National Health Insurance Research Database.\n\n\nParticipants\nA total of 247 000 individuals with AUD and 2 470 000 controls without AUD.\n\n\nMeasurements\nA new diagnosis of COVID‐19 was determined by a positive real‐time reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction test. We employed a Cox regression model, considering death as a competing risk, to assess the impact of AUD on the risk of COVID‐19 infection.\n\n\nFindings\nAmong 2 717 000 participants, 2374 developed incident COVID‐19 during an average follow‐up of 1.98 years, including 415 (0.17%) individuals with AUD and 1959 (0.08%) controls. After adjusting for age, sex, urbanization, COVID‐19 vaccination status, anxiety disorder, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index, AUD was statistically significantly associated with a higher risk of incident COVID‐19 infection (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR]:1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.06–1.34). Subgroup analyses, stratified by age, sex, and COVID‐19 vaccination status, revealed that AUD was linked to the risk of incident COVID‐19 infection across all subgroups, except for individuals aged 18–49 years, men, and those who were unvaccinated.\n\n\nConclusions\nAlcohol use disorder appears to be an independent risk factor for incident COVID‐19 infection. These findings highlight the importance of prioritizing individuals with AUD as a key target population for COVID‐19 prevention efforts.\n\n"]