Introduction and objective:
The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on our lives and health. At that time, people were looking for ways to reduce stress. One way to escape from problems turned out to be the use of harmful substances – cigarettes, alcohol, drugs or the Internet. Longterm use of these substances leads to addiction. However, the relationship between the Covid-19 pandemic and addiction is not unidirectional. The purpose of the following paper was to review reports on the bidirectional influence between pandemic Covid-19 and addiction.

Review methods:
Search PubMed and Google Scholar databases using keywords and phrases: “Covid-19 pandemic”, “Covid-19 risk”. “Addiction,” “Substance-related disorders,” “Alcohol,” “Internet.” The review includes an analysis of fulltext scientific publications in Polish and English available as of 2020. A systematic review of 18 scientific texts containing the most current data was conducted. The selection was guided by the diversity of scientific centers where the articles were written. An attempt was made to present a comprehensive state of knowledge while indicating areas that require further research.

Brief description of the state of knowledge:
The time of increased stress that the Covid-19 pandemic proved to be has altered harmful substance use. Most publications point to an increase in addictions to alcohol, drugs or the Internet. Addictions to harmful substances by affecting many systems of the human body, especially the immune system, contribute to the increased risk of illness and severity of Covid-19.

Summary:
Based on the sources reviewed, a bidirectional influence between pandemic Covid-19 and addictions is evident. However, large group studies are still needed to uncover the detailed mechanisms of the bidirectional influence between pandemic Covid-19 and addiction.