UK
Tackling alcohol misuse – What works best?
By HDA, UK
Mar 31, 2005, 21:17

The Health Development Agency today publishes its report on the prevention of alcohol misuse. The updated edition of the briefing document ‘Prevention and reduction of alcohol misuse’ highlights what works in tackling alcohol misuse, any gaps in the evidence and puts forward recommendations for policy and research commissioners.

The report examines interventions to combat the damaging effects of alcohol and the burden placed by alcohol on the NHS. Statistics show that in 2002, 27% of men and 17% of women aged 16 and over drank on average more than the recommended weekly safe amounts of 21 and 14 units respectively. 40% of all A&E admissions are alcohol related, and as many as 150,000 hospital admissions each year are related to alcohol misuse.

The recommendations include specific interventions such as behavioural counselling in healthcare settings to reduce risky and harmful alcohol consumption. There is evidence to support that brief advice sessions given in this setting could reduce weekly drinking by up to 34%, which could result in an average of nearly 9 fewer drinks per week. On the roads, evidence supports the effectiveness of breath-test ignition systems (interlocks) and introducing a lower legal maximum blood alcohol concentration to reduce alcohol-impaired crash deaths, particularly among younger drivers.

Professor Mike Kelly, HDA director of Evidence and Guidance, said:

“The need for effective interventions to reduce the negative impact of alcohol is clear – up to 22,000 deaths each year are associated with alcohol misuse, up to 17 million working days are lost annually due to alcohol related absence, and overall, it is estimated that the costs of alcohol misuse are around £20billion a year. This evidence briefing highlights the most effective ways of tackling alcohol misuse, showing that advice from healthcare professionals can help reduce levels of drinking, and providing the evidence on the best methods of reducing alcohol-impaired driving.”

The briefing identifies a number of inequalities and vulnerable groups, but finds a lack of review-level evidence for the effectiveness of interventions in reducing alcohol misuse in these sections of the community. The briefing recommends that research is needed on which approaches work best among minority ethnic groups, and identifies an urgent need to fill the evidence gap to reduce alcohol misuse in young people.

The policy context is also summarised, reiterating that combating alcohol-related crime and disorder is a key requirement to address the problems of town and city centres that are affected by alcohol misuse at weekends. This includes greater adoption of policies such as exclusion orders to ban those causing trouble from pubs, clubs or entire town centres and greater enforcement of existing rules on under age drinking, and serving those who are drunk - evidence shows that bartender training is effective in reducing intoxication levels in customers. It also stresses the importance of working with the alcohol industry to build on the good practice of some existing initiatives such as Citysafe schemes.

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