Abstract
BackgroundElevated levels of risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm have been reported for sportspeople and supporters compared to non-sporting populations. Limited systematic reviews have been conducted to assess the effect of interventions targeting such behaviours.MethodsA review was undertaken to determine if interventions implemented in sports settings decreased alcohol consumption and related harms. Studies were included that implemented interventions within sports settings; measured alcohol consumption or alcohol-related injury or violence and were either randomised controlled trials, staggered enrolment trials, stepped-wedged trials, quasi-randomised trials, quasi-experimental trials or natural experiments. Studies without a parallel comparison group were excluded. Studies from both published and grey literature were included. Two authors independently screened potential studies against the eligibility criteria, and two authors independently extracted data from included studies and assessed risk of bias. The results of included studies were synthesised narratively.ResultsThe title and abstract of 6382 papers and the full text of 45 of these papers were screened for eligibility. Three studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. One of the included studies was a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a cognitive-behavioural intervention with athletes within an Olympic training facility in the USA. The study reported a significant change in alcohol use between pre-test and follow-up between intervention and control groups. The other two studies were RCTs in community sports clubs in Ireland and Australia. The Australian study found a significant intervention effect for both risky alcohol consumption at sports clubs and overall risk of alcohol-related harm. The Irish study found no significant intervention effect.ConclusionsA limited number of studies have been conducted to assess the effect of interventions implemented in sports settings on alcohol consumption and related harms. While two of the three studies found significant intervention effects, it is difficult to determine the extent to which such effects are generalisable. Further controlled trials are required in this setting.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42014001739Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-016-0183-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Elevated levels of risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm have been reported for sportspeople and supporters compared to non-sporting populations
A survey of Australian Football League (AFL) players by Dietze et al (2008) found that the proportion of players that reported risky/high risk drinking for short-term harm (≥7 drinks on any 1 day on a monthly basis) ranged from 51 % during the playing season to 88 % at the end of the playing season, a proportion significantly greater than that for males in the general population (44 %) [18]
The review was undertaken according to the methods prescribed in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions [33] and is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Metaanalyses (PRISMA) [34]
Summary
Elevated levels of risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm have been reported for sportspeople and supporters compared to non-sporting populations. A survey of Australian Football League (AFL) players by Dietze et al (2008) found that the proportion of players that reported risky/high risk drinking for short-term harm (≥7 drinks on any 1 day on a monthly basis) ranged from 51 % during the playing season to 88 % at the end of the playing season, a proportion significantly greater than that for males in the general population (44 %) [18]. Higher levels of alcohol consumption have been reported amongst spectators/fans when they are at games compared to when not at games and compared to non-spectator populations [19, 20]
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