TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - The economic costs of alcohol-related harms at the local level in New South Wales
JO  - Drug and alcohol review
A1  - Crosland, Paul
A1  - Angeles, Mary Rose
A1  - Noyes, Jonathon
A1  - Willman, Arlita
A1  - Palermo, Melissa
A1  - Klarenaar, Paul
A1  - Howse, Eloise
A1  - Ananthapavan, Jaithri
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Alcohol is a harmful, toxic and addictive substance that causes many diseases and injuries. Alcohol use also incurs a financial cost to the health care system and wider economy. This project aimed to undertake a cost impact analysis of alcohol-related harms at the local level in New South Wales (NSW). The alcohol-related harms costing model is an interactive tool designed for use by local health districts, stakeholders such as Liquor and Gaming NSW, NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority and community stakeholders. <br><br>METHODS: Costs included in the analysis were alcohol-related hospitalisations, deaths, crimes, emergency department attendances, outpatient presentations and their impacts on productivity. Two local government areas (LGA) were used as case studies to demonstrate local impacts. <br><br>RESULTS: In 2019-2020, the total cost of alcohol-related harms for NSW was estimated at $9 billion, at a rate of $120.3 million per 100,000 population. The total costs were comprised of alcohol-attributable premature mortality ($8.3 billion), non-fatal health care costs ($275 million) and crime costs ($457 million). A comparative analysis of two case study LGAs estimated that alcohol-related harms cost $195 million for the Northern Beaches LGA and $351 million for the Central Coast LGA. <br><br>DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: This research has developed a 'proof-of-concept' model to estimate the cost of alcohol-related harms at the local level in Australia, empowering health agencies and local community stakeholders to use economic evidence in their submissions in response to new liquor licence applications and other policies that impact their local community. This economic evidence can be used to improve the quality of decisions on alcohol regulation and policies. There are a number of future research opportunities that would enhance the economic evidence available to liquor licensing decision-makers.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0959-5236
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dar.13794
ID  - ref1
ER  -