Detrimental Drinking Pattern Research Articles

Classifying Alcohol Control Policies with Respect to Expected Changes in Consumption and Alcohol-Attributable Harm: The Example of Lithuania, 2000-2019.

Due to the high levels of alcohol use, alcohol-attributable mortality and burden of disease, and detrimental drinking patterns, Lithuania implemented a series of alcohol control policies within a relatively short period of time, between 2008 and 2019. Based on their expected impact on alcohol consumption and alcohol-attributable harm, as well as their target population, these policies have been classified using a set of objective criteria and expert opinion. The classification criteria included: positive vs. negative outcomes, mainly immediate vs. delayed outcomes, and general population vs. specific group outcomes. The judgement of the alcohol policy experts converged on the objective criteria, and, as a result, two tiers of intervention were identified: Tier 1—highly effective general population interventions with an anticipated immediate impact; Tier 2—other interventions aimed at the general population. In addition, interventions directed at specific populations were identified. This adaptable methodological approach to alcohol control policy classification is intended to provide guidance and support for the evaluation of alcohol policies elsewhere, to lay the foundation for the critical assessment of the policies to improve health and increase life expectancy, and to reduce crime and violence.

Validity of self-reports of drinking before injury by cause of injury and societal context among emergency department patients.

Validity of self-reported alcohol consumption is a topic of continued interest with mixed findings. Validity of self-reports prior to injury is analysed among emergency department (ED) patients by cause of injury, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and societal context. Data are on 16 196 injured patients from 23 countries in the International Collaborative Alcohol and Injury Project. The proportion of those reporting drinking within 6 h prior to injury among the 2658 BAC positive patients was analysed by injury cause (traffic, violence, falls, other), BAC level (0.01-0.079 mg%, ≥ 0.08 mg%), detrimental drinking pattern (DDP) and the International Alcohol Policy and Injury Index (IAPII). Validity averaged 92%, ranging from 85% for drivers to 95% for violence-related injuries. Validity was significantly lower at lower BAC levels for all injuries (P < 0.01) and for violence and falls. Countries with a high DDP and those with lower IAPII scores (less restrictive alcohol policy) also appeared more likely to deny drinking which was significant for DDP for falls (P < 0.01) and for IAPII for passengers/pedestrians (P < 0.05) and violence (P < 0.05). Validity was highest for high IAPII countries, ranging from 92% to 99%. Validity of self-report compared to breathalyzer readings at the time of admission to the ED was high, but varied by cause of injury, BAC level, country-level detrimental drinking patterns and the restrictiveness of alcohol control policy. Findings may support the utility or self-reports as an alternative to a quantifiable measure of BAC in the ED setting.

Dose-Response Relationship of Alcohol and Injury Cause: Effects of Country-Level Drinking Pattern and Alcohol Policy.

The dose-response relationship of alcohol and injury and the effects of country-level detrimental drinking pattern (DDP) and alcohol control policy on this relationship are examined for specific causes of injury. The dose-response risk of injury is analyzed on 18,627 injured patients in 22 countries included in the International Collaborative Alcohol and Injury Study, using case-crossover analysis by cause of injury (traffic, violence, falls, other), DDP, and the International Alcohol Policy and Injury Index. Risk of all injury was higher at all volume levels in higher DDP countries compared to lower DDP countries and for each cause of injury. Risk of injury from traffic was significantly greater in higher DDP than lower DDP countries at 3.1 to 6 drinks (odds ratio (OR)=2.64, confidence interval (CI)=1.17 to 5.97) and at ≤3 drinks for falls (OR=2.51, CI=1.52 to 4.16) and injuries from other causes (OR=1.72, CI=1.10 to 2.69). Countries with higher restrictive alcohol policy were at a lower risk of injury at lower levels of consumption (≤3 drinks) for all injuries (OR=0.72, CI=0.56 to 0.92) and for injuries from other causes (OR=0.46, CI=0.29 to 0.73) and at a lower risk of traffic injuries at higher levels of consumption (≥10 drinks). At higher levels of consumption (≥10 drinks), countries with higher alcohol policy restrictiveness were at greater risk of all injuries (OR=2.03, CI=1.29 to 3.20) and those from violence (OR=9.02, CI=3.00 to 27.13) and falls (OR=4.29, CI=1.86 to 9.91). Countries with high DDP are at higher risk of injury from most causes at a given level of consumption, while countries with low restrictiveness of alcohol policy are at higher risk of injury at lower levels of consumption and at higher risk of traffic injuries at high levels of consumption. These findings underscore the importance of aggregate-level factors which need to be considered in developing effective intervention and prevention strategies for reducing alcohol-related injury.

Study of ways to cope with alcohol-related injuries in driving

Background: Alcohol is an important risk factor for road transport injuries. Road traffic crashes attributable to alcohol, are primarily associated with this high risk hazardous drinking behavior. In this study, ways to deal with alcohol-related injuries in driving have been investigated. Methods: In this overview, 60 articles with keyword prevention, alcohol consumption, injuries, and driving were investigated in the data bases of the PubMed, Elsevier and Google Scholar. Results: Linda J Cobiac study showed Raising alcohol excise tax in this high-income country would be highly cost-effective and could lead to substantial cost-savings for society. James Damsere-Derry study showed because alcohol consumption is increasing currently with motorization, it is necessary to educate alcohol users about the number of drinks required to stay below the legal limit if they are motorists as well as other road users or to prevent long-term illnesses associated with excessive alcohol use. Cheryl J. Cherpitel study showed countries with high detrimental drinking pattern (DDP) are at higher risk of injury from most causes at a given level of consumption, while countries with low restrictiveness of alcohol policy are at higher risk of injury at lower levels of consumption and at higher risk of traffic injuries at high levels of consumption. Conclusion: To reduce alcohol-related injuries in driving, it is important to increase alcohol taxes, driver training, and alcohol-restricting policies.

A multi-level analysis of emergency department data on drinking patterns, alcohol policy and cause of injury in 28 countries

BackgroundWhile individual-level drinking pattern is an important risk factor for alcohol-related injury, societal-level pattern and alcohol policy are also important, and no research exists on the relationship of these variables with specific causes of injury. MethodsA probability sample of 14,142 emergency department (ED) patients from 32 ED studies in 28 countries included in the International Collaborative Alcohol and Injury Study (ICAIS) is analyzed using multilevel modeling of individual-level volume and pattern of drinking, country-level detrimental drinking pattern (DDP), and alcohol policy using the International Alcohol Policy and Injury Index (IAPII) on self-reported drinking prior to the injury event, categorized as traffic, violence, fall or other cause. The IAPII includes four domains: availability, vehicular, advertising, and drinking context. ResultsFrequent heavy drinking was a strong predictor (p < .0.001) of injuries related to violence (OR = 2.57), falls (OR = 2.86), and other causes (OR = 1.71), while episodic heavy drinking was a significant predictor of injuries related to violence and falls. DDP was a significant predictor (p < 0.05) of traffic (OR = 1.54) and violence-related injuries (OR = 1.38) but lost significance when the IAPII was included. The IAPII was a significant predictor only for traffic injury (OR = 0.97, p < 0.001), and each domain with the exception of context were also significant. ConclusionsFindings here clearly point to the importance of targeted policies for specific causes of injury as well as the importance of individual and societal drinking patterns, the latter of which may be difficult to influence by preventive measures aimed to reduce alcohol-related injury.

Multi-level analysis of alcohol-related injury, societal drinking pattern and alcohol control policy: emergency department data from 28 countries.

Societal-level volume and pattern of drinking and alcohol control policy have received little attention in the alcohol and injury literature. The aim of this study was to estimate the association between alcohol-related injury, individual-level drinking variables, country-level detrimental drinking pattern and alcohol policy. Probability samples of emergency department (ED) patients from the International Collaborative Alcohol and Injury Study (ICAIS), which includes four collaborative ED studies on alcohol and injury, all using a similar methodology, were analyzed with multi-level modeling of individual-level drinking variables and aggregate-level variables (country drinking pattern and alcohol policy) on alcohol-related injury in 33 ED studies. Sixty-two emergency departments in 28 countries covering five regions. A total of 14 390 injured patients arriving to the ED within 6hours following injury. Alcohol-related injuries (self-reported drinking prior to the event and causal attribution of injury to drinking) were analyzed in relation to individual-level volume and pattern of drinking, study-level alcohol volume, country detrimental drinking pattern (DDP) and an alcohol policy measure, the International Alcohol Policy and Injury Index (IAPII). The IAPII includes four regulatory domains: availability, vehicular, advertising and drinking context. Controlling for demographic characteristics, individual-level drinking and study-level volume, the IAPII was associated significantly with the proportion of both self-reported drinking [confidence interval (CI)=0.97-0.99; P<0.001] and causal attribution (CI=0.97-0.99; P<0.01) and DDP had little effect on these associations. All four domains were significantly predictive of self-reported drinking [availability (CI=0.93-0.98, P<0.01); vehicular (CI=0.91-0.97, P<0.001); advertising CI=0.82-0.94, P<0.01); and context (CI=0.93-0.99, P<0.01], while only the vehicular domain was significantly predictive of causal attribution (CI=0.92-0.99; P<0.05). The more restrictive the alcohol policy in a country, the lower the rate of alcohol-related injury, with country-level drinking pattern having little effect on this relationship.

The effects of detrimental drinking patterns and drug use on female homicide victimization rates across Europe

This study examines the extent to which drinking patterns and drug use can explain cross-national variations in female homicide victimization across Europe. Given the limitations in measuring femicide consistently across a large number of countries, this study uses mortality data on recorded female deaths as a proxy to explain differences in levels of this kind of violence against women across Europe. In particular, it focuses on national-level patterns of alcohol and drug use as predictors, controlling for other known structural correlates. Contrary to findings of previous studies, cultural drinking patterns were not significantly related to female homicide victimization in this sample of countries, but detrimental drug use was.

Alcohol Attributable Fraction for Injury Morbidity from the Dose-Response Relationship of Acute Alcohol Consumption: Emergency Department Data from 18 Countries.

To calculate the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF) of injury morbidity by volume of consumption prior to injury based on newly reported relative risk (RR) estimates. AAF estimates based on the dose-response RR estimates obtained from previous pair-matched case-crossover fractional polynomial analysis of mean volume in volume categories were calculated from the prevalence of drinking prior to injury in each volume category. Thirty-seven emergency departments (EDs) across 18 countries. Probability samples of patients, with equal representation of each shift for each day of the week, totaling 14,026 who arrived at the ED within six hours of injury from ED studies conducted between 2001 and 2011. AAF was analyzed by gender, age (18-30; >30), cause of injury (traffic, assault, fall, other), and country detrimental drinking pattern (DDP). For the EDs analyzed, 16.4% of all injuries were estimated to be attributable to alcohol, and the AAF did not vary by age but was over twice as large for males (20.6%; 19.3-21.8) than for females (8.6%; 7.5-9.7%). While females were at greater risk of injury than males at higher volume levels, lower prevalence of women drinking at higher levels contributed to overall lower AAF for women. Assault-related injuries showed the largest AAF (44.1%; 37.6-42.6). AAF was slightly higher for injuries from falls (14.3%; 12.9-15.7) than motor vehicle crashes (11.1%; 9.3-12.9). AAF was higher in those countries with a DDP of 3 (18.6; 17.5-19.7) and 4 (19.4%; 17.3-21.6) than those with a DDP of 2 (12.0%; 10.5-13.5). Alcohol-attributable injuries presenting in emergency departments are higher for males than females, for violence-related injuries compared with other types of injury, and for countries with more detrimental drinking patterns compared with those with less detrimental patterns.

Is 'age at first drink' a useful concept in alcohol research and prevention? We doubt that.

To address and discuss the weaknesses of age at first drink (AFD) as a concept in alcohol research and prevention. Narrative literature review. Varying from one sip to the consumption of several full drinks, and sometimes including the specification of particular conditions (e.g. without parental consent), no exact definition and operationalization of AFD was found. Evidence reveals poor test-retest reliability when the same individuals report their AFD two or more times. Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence fail to explain why having one sip or one drink earlier than peers should cause heavier drinking and related problems later in life. Alternative explanations such as self-selection, third variable effects and systematic report bias are not considered in most studies. These shortcomings also make AFD unsuitable as an indicator or marker of underlying problems such as conduct problems and academic failure. Together with unjustified causal inferences, this has led to an over-emphasis on the relevance of postponing AFD as a way to prevent problems later in life. We argue in favour of shifting the focus of alcohol research and prevention away from AFD towards a better understanding of the progression from infrequent, low-quantity drinking to more detrimental drinking patterns and the prevention of associated acute and short-term harm.

Ethnic Drinking Cultures, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status in Asian American and Latino Drinking

Heterogeneity in drinking across national groups is well documented, but what explains such heterogeneity is less clear. To improve understanding of the underlying cultural conditions that may lead to diverse drinking outcomes, we investigate whether 3 dimensions of ethnic drinking culture (EDC)-alcohol consumption level, drinking prevalence, and detrimental drinking pattern (DDP) in the country of origin (COO)-are significantly associated with alcohol consumption in Asian Americans and Latina/os, and whether the associations vary by gender and socioeconomic status (SES) as assessed by educational level. A nationally representative sample of 1,012 Asian American and 4,831 Latino adults extracted from the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions data was used. A series of multiple logistic and linear regression models were fitted separately for Asian Americans and for Latinos. Analyses were also stratified by gender and educational level. Overall, the associations between EDC variables and drinking outcomes were more pronounced for all Asian Americans than for all Latina/os, for males than for females among Asian Americans, and for Latinas than for Latinos. In analyses simultaneously stratifying on gender and education level, however, there was a clear pattern of COO DDP associated with heavier drinking and alcohol consumption volume only for Latinos without a college degree. Ethnic drinking cultures may influence drinking in Asian American and Latino subgroups, albeit to a varying degree. Low-SES Latinos may be at disproportionate risk of harmful drinking patterns pervasive in their COO. Future research might investigate the complex interplay between socioeconomic disadvantage and cultural conditions to inform targeted interventions for subgroups at high risk of alcohol-related harms.

Asian American problem drinking trajectories during the transition to adulthood: ethnic drinking cultures and neighborhood contexts.

We aimed to identify problem drinking trajectories and their predictors among Asian Americans transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. We considered cultural and socioeconomic contextual factors, specifically ethnic drinking cultures, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and neighborhood coethnic density, to identify subgroups at high risk for developing problematic drinking trajectories. We used a sample of 1333 Asian Americans from 4 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (1994-2008) in growth mixture models to identify trajectory classes of frequent heavy episodic drinking and drunkenness. We fitted multinomial logistic regression models to identify predictors of trajectory class membership. Two dimensions of ethnic drinking culture-drinking prevalence and detrimental drinking pattern in the country of origin-were predictive of problematic heavy episodic drinking and drunkenness trajectories. Higher neighborhood socioeconomic status in adolescence was predictive of the trajectory class indicating increasing frequency of drunkenness. Neighborhood coethnic density was not predictive of trajectory class membership. Drinking cultures in the country of origin may have enduring effects on drinking among Asian Americans. Further research on ethnic drinking cultures in the United States is warranted for prevention and intervention.

Relative risk of injury from acute alcohol consumption: modeling the dose-response relationship in emergency department data from 18 countries.

To update and extend analysis of the dose-response relationship of injury and drinking by demographic and injury subgroups and country-level drinking pattern, and examine the validity and efficiency of the fractional polynomial approach to modeling this relationship. Pair-matched case-cross-over analysis of drinking prior to injury, using categorical step-function and fractional polynomial analysis. Thirty-seven emergency departments (EDs) across 18 countries. A total of 13 119 injured drinkers arriving at the ED within 6 hours of the event. The dose-response relationship was analyzed by gender, age, cause of injury (traffic, violence, fall, other) and country detrimental drinking pattern (DDP). Estimated risks were similar between the two analytical methods, with injury risk doubling at one drink [odds ratio (OR) = 2.3-2.7] and peaking at about 30 drinks. Although risk was similar for males and females up to three drinks (OR = 4.6), it appeared to increase more rapidly for females and was significantly higher starting from 20 drinks [female OR = 28.6; confidence interval (CI) = 16.8, 48.9; male OR = 12.8; CI = 10.1, 16.3]. No significant differences were found across age groups. Risk was significantly higher for violence-related injury than for other causes across the volume range. Risk was also higher at all volumes for DDP-3 compared with DDP-2 countries. There is an increasing risk relationship between alcohol and injury but risk is not uniform across gender, cause of injury or country drinking pattern. The fractional polynomial approach is a valid and efficient approach for modeling the alcohol injury risk relationship.

Are alcohol policies associated with alcohol consumption in low‐ and middle‐income countries?

To examine the associations between alcohol control policies in four regulatory domains with alcohol consumption in low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs), controlling for country-level living standards and drinking patterns. Cross-sectional analyses of individual-level alcohol consumption survey data and country-level alcohol policies using multi-level modeling. Data from 15 LAMICs collected in the Gender, Alcohol, and Culture: an International Study (GENACIS) data set. Individuals aged 18-65 years. Alcohol policy data compiled by the World Health Organization; individual-level current drinking status, usual quantity and frequency of drinking, binge drinking frequency and total drinking volume; gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity (GDP-PPP) per capita; detrimental drinking pattern scale; and age and gender as individual-level covariates. Alcohol policies regulating the physical availability of alcohol, particularly those concerning business hours or involving a licensing system for off-premises alcohol retail sales, as well as minimum legal drinking age, were the most consistent predictors of alcohol consumption. Aggregate relative alcohol price levels were associated inversely with all drinking variables (P < 0.05) except drinking volume. Greater restrictions on alcohol advertising, particularly beer advertising, were associated inversely with alcohol consumption (P < 0.05). Policies that set legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits for drivers and random breath testing to enforce BAC limits were not associated significantly with alcohol consumption. Alcohol policies that regulate the physical availability of alcohol are associated with lower alcohol consumption in low- and middle-income countries.

Who’s At Risk? Ethnic Drinking Cultures, Foreign Nativity, and Problem Drinking Among Asian American Young Adults

Despite the low overall prevalence of alcohol use among Asian Americans, rates of alcohol use disorder are high among Asian American young adults. The influence of ethnic drinking cultures on immigrants and their descendants has been overlooked in past research. We took an integrative approach to examine the influence of ethnic drinking culture, acculturation, and socioeconomic disparities on problem drinking among Asian American young adults. This study was a nationally representative sample of 854 Asian American young adults extracted from the Wave 4 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data. About 48% of the sample was female and 52% male. Several multiple logistic regression models were fitted. Controlling for other covariates, two dimensions of ethnic drinking culture were associated with alcohol outcomes only for the foreign born: (a) detrimental drinking pattern with frequent drunkenness and alcohol-abuse symptoms and (b) drinking prevalence with alcohol-dependence symptoms. Financial hardship was a significant predictor of symptoms of alcohol abuse and dependence only for the U.S. born. Asian language use was protective against alcohol-abuse symptoms and alcohol-dependence symptoms for the foreign born. Cultural and socioeconomic factors of problem drinking may be different for U.S.-and foreign-born Asian American young adults. Ethnic drinking cultures may significantly influence problem drinking of foreign-born Asian American young adults, independent of their acculturation into U.S. cultures. To inform effective interventions targeted at immigrants and their descendants, future research might further investigate the cultural and socioeconomic processes in immigrant communities that might significantly influence drinking.

Alcohol Use and Injury Severity Among Emergency Department Patients in Six Countries

This study examines the individual and sociocultural factors related to severity of injury among emergency department (ED) patients across six countries (United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Spain, and Italy). Secondary analysis of existing data using probability samples of injured patients from 15 studies (N = 9,599) were analyzed for severity of injury as measured by arrival by ambulance and admission to the hospital, using logistic regression models and multilevel hierarchical linear models. Patients drinking greater quantities of alcohol before the injury were more likely to have arrived to the ED by ambulance or admitted to the hospital after the injury event. Country-level detrimental drinking pattern explained some of the study variation for patients arriving by ambulance but not for patients admitted to the ED. Findings support a relationship between acute alcohol consumption to injury severity; however, further examination of the clinical implications related to triage, patient evaluation, and intervention for alcohol-related problems is merited.

Multi-level analysis of alcohol-related injury and drinking pattern: emergency department data from 19 countries*†

Aim While drinking in the event is an important factor in injury occurrence, the pattern of usual drinking may also be important in risk of injury. Explored here is the relationship of an alcohol-related injury with an individual usual drinking pattern. Design Alcohol-related injury is examined using hierarchical linear models, taking into account individual usual volume of consumption over the past 12 months, as well as aggregate-level detrimental drinking pattern (DDP) and alcohol policy measures. Setting Data analyzed are from emergency departments (EDs) in 19 countries, comprising three collaborative studies on alcohol and injury, all of which used a similar methodology. Participants The sample comprised 14 132 injured drinkers across 46 emergency room (ER) studies. Measurements Alcohol-related injury was measured, separately, by any self-reported drinking prior to injury, a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) ≥ 0.08 and self-reported causal attribution of injury to drinking. Findings While individual usual volume strongly predicted an alcohol-related injury for all three measures, usual drinking pattern also predicted an alcohol-related injury (controlling for volume), with episodic heavy and frequent heavy drinking both more predictive of alcohol-related injury than other drinking patterns. When individual usual volume and drinking pattern were controlled, DDP was no longer a significant predictor of alcohol-related injury. Alcohol policy measures were predictive of both BAC and causal attribution (the stronger the policy the lower the rates of alcohol-related injury). Conclusions Volume of alcohol typically consumed and occurrence of heavy drinking episodes are associated independently with incidence of alcohol-related injury. The stronger the anti-alcohol policies in a country, the lower the rates of alcohol-related injury.

Alcohol and Violence-Related Injuries Among Emergency Room Patients in an International Perspective

While alcohol has been found to be more closely associated with violence-related injury than with injury from other causes, little data is available which documents heterogeneity in this association across countries or cultures, taking into consideration usual drinking patterns and other socio-cultural variables. Data are reported from 15 countries comprising the Emergency Room Collaborative Alcohol Analysis Project and the WHO Collaborative Study on Alcohol and Injury. Case-crossover analysis was used to analyze the risk of injury (among current drinkers) from drinking six hours prior to the event, based on frequency of usual drinking, for violence-related injuries and separately for non-violence related injuries. Relative risk (RR) for a violence-related injury was significantly greater than for injuries from other causes across all countries (pooled RR=22.22 vs. 4.33), but the magnitude of risk varied considerably (ranging from 4.68 in Spain to 942 in Canada). Pooled effect size was found to be heterogeneous across countries, and was explained, in part, by the level of detrimental drinking pattern in a country. Risk for a violence-related injury was not significantly different by age (<30 and 30+), reporting 5 or more drinks on at least one occasion during the last year, or reporting symptoms of alcohol dependence. A number of methodological concerns suggest that risk of a violence-related injury compared to injuries from other causes may be inflated, and such variables as context of drinking should be taken into consideration in establishing relative risk and alcohol attributable fraction of violence-related injury across countries and cultures.

The effects of binge drinking and social capital on violent victimisation: findings from Moscow

BackgroundRates of violence in Russia are among the highest in the world, and violent victimisation represents a major public health threat in the country. As yet, however, little research has...

Alcohol and suicide in eastern Europe

The aim of this paper was to estimate how suicide rates in seven eastern European countries are affected by changes in population drinking and to put the results into a comparative perspective. The analysis included data on annual suicide mortality rates and per capita consumption for the post-war period from: Russia, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the former Czechoslovakia and the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Overall and gender-specific models were estimated using the Box-Jenkins technique for time-series analysis. The estimates were pooled into two groups, i.e. spirits countries (Russia, Belarus and Poland) and non-spirits countries (Hungary, Bulgaria, former Czechoslovakia and former GDR). All countries obtained positive alcohol effect estimates. The effects on the overall population were largest in the spirits countries, where a 1-litre increase in per capita consumption was associated with an increase in overall suicide rates of 5.7-7.5%. The effects were somewhat smaller in the non-spirits countries, 2.7-4.7%. The estimates for males were larger, but showed the same national variations as the overall population estimates. The female estimates were generally smaller than for men and did not differ between the two country groups. The results suggest that per capita consumption matters for suicide mortality in these eastern European countries, but that the strength of the relationship is contingent upon the drinking culture, so that it tends to be stronger in countries with detrimental drinking patterns.

Alcohol and Homicide in Eastern Europe

Few studies have addressed the association between alcohol consumption and homicide rates at the population level in eastern European countries. The aim of the present study was to test hypotheses on how this association may vary across countries with different drinking patterns and for gender specific homicide rates. Time series analysis was used on annual alcohol consumption and homicide rates for six eastern European countries. The estimates were pooled into two groups of countries with more (Russia and Belarus) and somewhat less (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and former Czechoslovakia) hazardous drinking patterns. The overall results showed that annual changes in alcohol consumption were positively and significantly associated with homicide rates and also indicated that the estimates were stronger in countries with a more detrimental drinking pattern. The results suggest that alcohol consumption has an effect on homicide rates in Eastern Europe and that this effect varies with drinking pattern.