TY - JOUR
PY - 2024//
TI - Alcohol control policy and alcohol-attributable disease burden in Finland and the Baltic countries: a longitudinal study 1995-2019
JO - Drug and alcohol review
A1 - MÃ¥nsson, Anastasia
A1 - van der Velde, Lode
A1 - Karlsson, Thomas
A1 - Beekmann, Lauri
A1 - Jonsson Stenberg, Elsa
A1 - Haagsma, Juanita
A1 - Castelpietra, Giulio
A1 - Agardh, Emilie E.
A1 - Allebeck, Peter
SP - ePub
EP - ePub
VL - ePub
IS - ePub
N2 - INTRODUCTION: Alcohol remains a significant contributor to mortality and morbidity in Finland and the Baltic countries, particularly among men. This study aimed to assess alcohol policy restrictiveness in this region from 1995 to 2019 using a modified version of the Bridging the Gap (BtG-M) policy scale and examine its association with alcohol-related disease burden.
METHODS: The study utilised national laws to score policy restrictiveness (higher BtG-M scores mean stricter policies) and age-standardised rates of disability-adjusted life years (DALY), years of life lost, years lived with disability and deaths per 100,000 from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD). Spearman correlation tests and panel data regression models were applied to assess the association between policy score and burden of disease.
RESULTS: Finland maintained a high BtG-M score, while the Baltic countries experienced recent increases from initially lower scores. Alcohol-related disease burden showed an inverse association with policy changes in these countries. Strongest association was seen between the BtG-M score and DALY rates attributed to injuries. Premature mortality among men constituted the largest proportion of disease burden.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Despite challenges in accessing and comparing policy data over time, we showed a strong association between alcohol policy and alcohol-related harm in Finland and the Baltic countries. This study is one of the first to use the BtG-M scale to monitor changes in alcohol policies over time and their relationship to alcohol-related harm using GBD methodology. The study highlights the effects of national alcohol policies on levels of alcohol-related harm.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0959-5236 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dar.13901 ID - ref1 ER -