TY - JOUR
T1 - Effective alcohol policies and lifetime abstinence
T2 - An analysis of the International Alcohol Control policy index
AU - Leung, June
AU - Casswell, Sally
AU - Parker, Karl
AU - Huckle, Taisia
AU - Romeo, Jose
AU - Graydon-Guy, Thomas
AU - Byron, Karimu
AU - Callinan, Sarah
AU - Chaiyasong, Surasak
AU - Gordon, Ross
AU - Harker, Nadine
AU - MacKintosh, Anne Marie
AU - Meier, Petra
AU - Paraje, Guillermo
AU - Parry, Charles D
AU - Pham, Cuong
AU - Williams, Petal Petersen
AU - Randerson, Stephen
AU - Schelleman-Offermans, Karen
AU - Sengee, Gantuya
AU - Torun, Perihan
AU - van Dalen, Wim
N1 - Funding Information:
The IAC Study is led by Professor Sally Casswell. The IAC core survey questionnaire was largely developed by researchers at the SHORE & Whāriki Research Centre, College of Health, Massey University, New Zealand, with funding from the Health Promotion Agency, New Zealand. Further development involved collaboration between UK, Thai, Korean and New Zealand researchers. The funding sources for each country are: Australia—Australian National Preventive Health Agency and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education; England and Scotland—Medical Research Council National Prevention Research Initiative (Grant ref.: MR/J000523/1); New Zealand—The Health Promotion Agency and Health Research Council of NZ; St Kitts/Nevis—International Development Research Centre, Canada; Mongolia—World Health Organization; Peru—International Development Research Centre, Canada; South Africa—International Development Research Centre, Canada and South African Medical Research Council; Thailand—International Health Policy Program, Thai Health; Vietnam—International Development Research Centre, Canada. We would also like to acknowledge the time given by the survey respondents. Open access publishing facilitated by Massey University, as part of the Wiley - Massey University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.
Funding Information:
The IAC Study is led by Professor Sally Casswell. The IAC core survey questionnaire was largely developed by researchers at the SHORE & Whāriki Research Centre, College of Health, Massey University, New Zealand, with funding from the Health Promotion Agency, New Zealand. Further development involved collaboration between UK, Thai, Korean and New Zealand researchers. The funding sources for each country are: Australia—Australian National Preventive Health Agency and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education; England and Scotland—Medical Research Council National Prevention Research Initiative (Grant ref.: MR/J000523/1); New Zealand—The Health Promotion Agency and Health Research Council of NZ; St Kitts/Nevis—International Development Research Centre, Canada; Mongolia—World Health Organization; Peru—International Development Research Centre, Canada; South Africa—International Development Research Centre, Canada and South African Medical Research Council; Thailand—International Health Policy Program, Thai Health; Vietnam—International Development Research Centre, Canada. We would also like to acknowledge the time given by the survey respondents. Open access publishing facilitated by Massey University, as part of the Wiley ‐ Massey University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.
Funding Information:
Australian National Preventive Health Agency; Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education; Health Promotion Agency; Health Research Council of New Zealand; International Development Research Centre; International Health Policy Program Thailand; Medical Research Council National Prevention Research Initiative, Grant/Award Number: MR/J000523/1; South African Medical Research Council; World Health Organization Funding information
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - INTRODUCTION: Alcohol abstinence remains common among adults globally, although low and middle-income countries are experiencing declines in abstention. The effect of alcohol policies on lifetime abstinence is poorly understood. The International Alcohol Control (IAC) policy index was developed to benchmark and monitor the uptake of effective alcohol policies and has shown strong associations with alcohol per capita consumption and drinking patterns. Uniquely, the index incorporates both policy 'stringency' and 'impact', reflecting policy implementation and enforcement, across effective policies. Here we assessed the association of the IAC policy index with lifetime abstinence in a diverse sample of jurisdictions.METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between the IAC policy index score, and its components, and lifetime abstinence among adults (15+ years) in 13 high and middle-income jurisdictions. We examined the correlations for each component of the index and stringency and impact separately.RESULTS: Overall, the total IAC policy index scores were positively correlated with lifetime abstinence (r = 0.76), as were both the stringency (r = 0.62) and impact (r = 0.82) scores. Marketing restrictions showed higher correlations with lifetime abstinence than other policy domains (r = 0.80), including restrictions on physical availability, pricing policies and drink-driving prevention.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that restricting alcohol marketing could be an important policy for the protection of alcohol abstention. The IAC policy index may be a useful tool to benchmark the performance of alcohol policy in supporting alcohol abstention in high and middle-income countries.
AB - INTRODUCTION: Alcohol abstinence remains common among adults globally, although low and middle-income countries are experiencing declines in abstention. The effect of alcohol policies on lifetime abstinence is poorly understood. The International Alcohol Control (IAC) policy index was developed to benchmark and monitor the uptake of effective alcohol policies and has shown strong associations with alcohol per capita consumption and drinking patterns. Uniquely, the index incorporates both policy 'stringency' and 'impact', reflecting policy implementation and enforcement, across effective policies. Here we assessed the association of the IAC policy index with lifetime abstinence in a diverse sample of jurisdictions.METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between the IAC policy index score, and its components, and lifetime abstinence among adults (15+ years) in 13 high and middle-income jurisdictions. We examined the correlations for each component of the index and stringency and impact separately.RESULTS: Overall, the total IAC policy index scores were positively correlated with lifetime abstinence (r = 0.76), as were both the stringency (r = 0.62) and impact (r = 0.82) scores. Marketing restrictions showed higher correlations with lifetime abstinence than other policy domains (r = 0.80), including restrictions on physical availability, pricing policies and drink-driving prevention.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that restricting alcohol marketing could be an important policy for the protection of alcohol abstention. The IAC policy index may be a useful tool to benchmark the performance of alcohol policy in supporting alcohol abstention in high and middle-income countries.
KW - Abstention
KW - Abstinence
KW - Alcohol
KW - Alcohol policy
KW - Policy index
U2 - 10.1111/dar.13582
DO - 10.1111/dar.13582
M3 - Article
C2 - 36423899
SN - 0959-5236
VL - 42
SP - 704
EP - 713
JO - Drug and Alcohol Review
JF - Drug and Alcohol Review
ER -