. 2022 Dec 1:241:109682.

doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109682. Epub 2022 Nov 4.

Do alcohol control policies have the predicted effects on consumption? An analysis of the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy & Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS), Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research (ZIS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany; Department of International Health Projects, Institute for Leadership and Health Management, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, the Russian Federation; Program on Substance Abuse, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Program on Substance Abuse & designated WHO CC, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
² Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
³ Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia; Institute of Public Health, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia.
⁴ European Observatory of Health Inequalities, Calisia University, Kalisz, Poland; Health Promotion Foundation, Nadarzyn, Poland.
⁵ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁷ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; Department for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, National institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia.
⁸ Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁹ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania.
¹⁰ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; University of Potsdam, Department of Economics, Potsdam, Germany.
¹¹ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 36402051
PMCID: PMC9772294
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109682

Do alcohol control policies have the predicted effects on consumption? An analysis of the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020

Jürgen Rehm et al. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2022.

. 2022 Dec 1:241:109682.

doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109682. Epub 2022 Nov 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy & Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS), Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research (ZIS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany; Department of International Health Projects, Institute for Leadership and Health Management, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, the Russian Federation; Program on Substance Abuse, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Program on Substance Abuse & designated WHO CC, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
² Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
³ Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia; Institute of Public Health, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia.
⁴ European Observatory of Health Inequalities, Calisia University, Kalisz, Poland; Health Promotion Foundation, Nadarzyn, Poland.
⁵ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁷ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; Department for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, National institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia.
⁸ Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁹ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania.
¹⁰ Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania; University of Potsdam, Department of Economics, Potsdam, Germany.
¹¹ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 36402051
PMCID: PMC9772294
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109682

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.

Keywords: Affordability; Alcohol control policy; Alcohol per capita consumption; Availability; Best buys; Marketing ban; Taxation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest No conflict declared.

Figures

**Figure 1:**
Trends in total adult (aged 15+) alcohol *per capita* consumption in the Baltic countries and Poland, and taxation increases or availability restrictions in 2000–2020 Note: Vertical lines indicate the year when policies were enacted. If more than one country had an alcohol control policy in the same year, different colors were used for the vertical lines matching the country colour. Asterisk (‘*’) represents taxation policies, addition sign (‘+’) represents availability policies, and red ‘X’ represents loosening of taxation policies.

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Do alcohol control policies have the predicted effects on consumption? An analysis of the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020

Affiliations

Do alcohol control policies have the predicted effects on consumption? An analysis of the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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