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Association between stricter alcohol advertising regulations and lower hazardous drinking across E uropean countries
Author(s) -
BosqueProus Marina,
Espelt Albert,
Guitart Anna M.,
Bartroli Montserrat,
Villalbí Joan R.,
Brugal M. Teresa
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.12562
Subject(s) - alcohol use disorders identification test , environmental health , confidence interval , alcohol consumption , medicine , human factors and ergonomics , demography , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , poison control , hazardous waste , alcohol , engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , pathology , sociology , waste management
Aims To analyse the association between alcohol advertising restrictions and the prevalence of hazardous drinking among people aged 50–64 years in 16 E uropean countries, taking into account both individual and contextual‐level factors (alcohol taxation, availability, etc.). Design Cross‐sectional study based on SHARE project surveys. Setting and Participants A total of 27 773 subjects, aged 50–64 years, from 16 E uropean countries who participated in wave 4 of the SHARE ( S urvey of H ealth, A geing and R etirement in E urope) project. Measurements We estimated the prevalence of hazardous drinking (through adaptation of the SHARE questions to the scheme used by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption ( AUDIT ‐ C ) for each country. To determine whether the degree of advertising restrictions was associated with prevalence of hazardous drinking, we fitted robust variance multi‐level P oisson models, adjusting for various individual and contextual variables. Prevalence ratios ( PR ) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI ) were obtained. Findings The observed prevalence of hazardous drinking was 24.1%, varying by sex and country. Countries with greater advertising restrictions had lower prevalence of hazardous drinking: 30.6% (95% CI = 29.3–31.8) in countries with no restrictions, 20.3% (95% CI = 19.3–21.2) in countries with some restrictions and 14.4% (95% CI = 11.9–16.8) in those with greatest restrictions. The PR found (with respect to countries with greatest restrictions) were 1.36 (95% CI = 0.90–2.06) for countries with some restrictions and 1.95 (95% CI = 1.31–2.91) for those with no advertising restrictions. Conclusions The extent of advertising restrictions in European countries is associated inversely with prevalence of hazardous drinking in people aged 50–64 years.