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Measurable effects of local alcohol licensing policies on population health in England

de Vocht, Frank, Heron, Jon, Angus, Colin, Brennan, Alan, Mooney, John, Lock, Karen, Campbell, Rona and Hickman, Mathew (2016) Measurable effects of local alcohol licensing policies on population health in England. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 70. pp. 231-237. ISSN 0143-005X

Item Type: Article

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Background: English alcohol policy is implemented at local government level, leading to variations in how it is put into practice. We evaluated whether differences in the presence or absence of cumulative impact zones and the ‘intensity’ of licensing enforcement—both aimed at regulating the availability of alcohol and modifying the drinking environment—were associated with harm as measured by alcohol-related hospital admissions.
Methods: Premises licensing data were obtained at lower tier local authority (LTLA) level from the Home Office Alcohol and Late Night Refreshment Licensing data for 2007–2012, and LTLAs were coded as ‘passive’, low, medium or highly active based on whether they made use of cumulative impact areas and/ or whether any licences for new premises were declined. These data were linked to 2009–2015 alcohol-related hospital admission and alcohol-related crime rates obtained from the Local Alcohol Profiles for England. Population size and deprivation data were obtained from the Office of National Statistics. Changes in directly age standardised rates of people admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions were analysed using hierarchical growth modelling.
Results: Stronger reductions in alcohol-related admission rates were observed in areas with more intense alcohol licensing policies, indicating an ‘exposure–response’ association, in the 2007–2015 period. Local areas with the most intensive licensing policies had an additional 5% reduction (p=0.006) in 2015 compared with what would have been expected had these local areas had no active licensing policy in place.
Conclusions Local licensing policies appear to be associated with a reduction in alcohol-related hospital admissions in areas with more intense licensing policies.

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More Information

Depositing User: John Mooney

Identifiers

Item ID: 7010
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2015-206040
ISSN: 0143-005X
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/7010
Official URL: http://jech.bmj.com/content/70/3/231.info

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for John Mooney: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6639-8491

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 09 Mar 2017 16:10
Last Modified: 04 Feb 2021 16:52

Contributors

Author: John Mooney ORCID iD
Author: Frank de Vocht
Author: Jon Heron
Author: Colin Angus
Author: Alan Brennan
Author: Karen Lock
Author: Rona Campbell
Author: Mathew Hickman

University Divisions

Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing > School of Nursing and Health Sciences

Subjects

Sciences > Health Sciences

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