Do alcohol control policies have the predicted effects on consumption? An analysis of the Baltic countries and Poland 2000–2020. (1st December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rehm, Jürgen; Tran, Alexander; Gobiņa, Inese; Janik-Koncewicz, Kinga; Jiang, Huan; Kim, Kawon Victoria; Liutkutė-Gumarov, Vaida; Miščikienė, Laura; Reile, Rainer; Room, Robin; Štelemėkas, Mindaugas; Stoppel, Relika; Zatoński, Witold A.; Lange, Shannon
• Is Part Of: Drug and alcohol dependence. Volume 241(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-12-01
• Subjects: Alcohol control policy -- Best buys -- Taxation -- Affordability -- Availability -- Marketing ban -- Alcohol per capita consumption; Drug abuse -- Periodicals; Alcoholism -- Periodicals; 616.86
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109682
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0376-8716

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Many population-based alcohol control policies are postulated to work via changes in adult alcohol per capita consumption (APC). However, since APC is usually assessed on a yearly basis, often there are not enough data to conduct interrupted time-series or other controlled analyses. The current dataset, with 21 years of observation from four countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland), had sufficient power to test for average effects and potential interactions of the World Health Organization's (WHO) three "best buys" for alcohol control: taxation increases leading to a decrease in affordability; reduced availability (via a decrease in opening hours of at least 20 %); and advertising and marketing restrictions. We postulated that the former two would have immediate effects, while the latter would have mid- to long-term effects. Methods: Linear regression analysis. Results: Taxation increases and availability reductions in all countries were associated with an average reduction in APC of 0.83 litres (ℓ) of pure alcohol per year (95 % confidence interval: −1.21 ℓ, −0.41 ℓ) in the same year, with no significant differences between countries. Restrictions on advertising and/or marketing had no significant immediate associations with APC (average effect 0.04 ℓ per year; 95 % confidence interval: −0.65 ℓ, 0.73 ℓ). Several sensitivity analyses corroborated these main results. Conclusions: The WHO "best buy" alcohol control policies of taxation increases and availability restrictions worked as postulated in these four northeastern European Union countries. Highlights: Reductions in affordability and availability were associated with reductions of adult alcohol per capita consumption. Restrictions of advertising or marketing had no significant association with alcohol per capita consumption in the same year. Sensitivity analyses using country-specific estimates for alcohol per capita consumption yielded very similar results.