TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of the WHO “best buys” for alcohol policy on consumption and health in the Baltic countries and Poland 2000–2020
AU - Rehm, Jürgen
AU - Badaras, Robertas
AU - Ferreira-Borges, Carina
AU - Galkus, Lukas
AU - Gostautaite Midttun, Nijole
AU - Gobiņa, Inese
AU - Janik-Koncewicz, Kinga
AU - Jasilionis, Domantas
AU - Jiang, Huan
AU - Kim, Kawon Victoria
AU - Lange, Shannon
AU - Liutkutė-Gumarov, Vaida
AU - Manthey, Jakob
AU - Miščikienė, Laura
AU - Neufeld, Maria
AU - Petkevičienė, Janina
AU - Radišauskas, Ričardas
AU - Reile, Rainer
AU - Room, Robin
AU - Stoppel, Relika
AU - Tamutienė, Ilona
AU - Tran, Alexander
AU - Trišauskė, Justina
AU - Zatoński, Mateusz
AU - Zatoński, Witold A.
AU - Zurlytė, Ingrida
AU - Štelemėkas, Mindaugas
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: Research reported in this publication was in part supported by the (U.S.) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant number 1R01AA028224 . This research was conducted as part of the project ‘Evaluation of the impact of alcohol control policies on morbidity and mortality in Lithuania and other Baltic states’ and we would like to thank the whole team for their input to wider discussions in generating the research reported in this paper. Content is the responsibility of the authors and does not reflect official positions of the NIAAA or the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Alcohol use is a major risk factor for burden of disease. This narrative review aims to document the effects of major alcohol control policies, in particular taxation increases and availability restrictions in the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) between 2000 and 2020. These measures have been successful in curbing alcohol sales, in general without increasing consumption of alcoholic beverages from unrecorded sources; although for more recent changes this may have been partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, findings from time-series analyses suggest improved health, measured as reductions in all-cause and alcohol-attributable mortality, as well as narrowing absolute mortality inequalities between lower and higher educated groups. For most outcomes, there were sex differences observed, with alcohol control policies more strongly affecting males. In contrast to this successful path, alcohol control policies were mostly dismantled in the neighbouring country of Poland, resulting in a rising death toll due to liver cirrhosis and other alcohol-attributable deaths. The natural experiment in this region of high-income European countries with high consumption levels highlights the importance of effective alcohol control policies for improving population health.
AB - Alcohol use is a major risk factor for burden of disease. This narrative review aims to document the effects of major alcohol control policies, in particular taxation increases and availability restrictions in the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) between 2000 and 2020. These measures have been successful in curbing alcohol sales, in general without increasing consumption of alcoholic beverages from unrecorded sources; although for more recent changes this may have been partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, findings from time-series analyses suggest improved health, measured as reductions in all-cause and alcohol-attributable mortality, as well as narrowing absolute mortality inequalities between lower and higher educated groups. For most outcomes, there were sex differences observed, with alcohol control policies more strongly affecting males. In contrast to this successful path, alcohol control policies were mostly dismantled in the neighbouring country of Poland, resulting in a rising death toll due to liver cirrhosis and other alcohol-attributable deaths. The natural experiment in this region of high-income European countries with high consumption levels highlights the importance of effective alcohol control policies for improving population health.
KW - Alcohol
KW - All-cause mortality
KW - Availability
KW - Ban on marketing
KW - Control policies
KW - Taxation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172194949&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/c742b862-70f7-3bc0-8fb0-c5457e18a2f2/
U2 - 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100704
DO - 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100704
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85172194949
SN - 2666-7762
VL - 33
JO - The Lancet Regional Health - Europe
JF - The Lancet Regional Health - Europe
M1 - 100704
ER -
