Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria

Objective: To examine recent trends in alcohol-related harm and risky drinking in Victoria, Australia. Methods: The study compiled eight measures of alcohol-related harm from published and unpublished sources, covering data relating to health, crime, alcohol treatment and traffic crashes for the fin...

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Main Authors: Livingston, M., Matthews, S., Barratt, Monica, Lloyd, B., Room, R.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Blackwell 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3860
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author Livingston, M.
Matthews, S.
Barratt, Monica
Lloyd, B.
Room, R.
author_facet Livingston, M.
Matthews, S.
Barratt, Monica
Lloyd, B.
Room, R.
author_sort Livingston, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objective: To examine recent trends in alcohol-related harm and risky drinking in Victoria, Australia. Methods: The study compiled eight measures of alcohol-related harm from published and unpublished sources, covering data relating to health, crime, alcohol treatment and traffic crashes for the financial years 1999/2000 to 2007/08. In addition, published estimates of short and long-term risky drinking from three sets of surveys between 2001 and 2007 were examined. Results: Six of the eight harm indicators substantially increased, while only alcohol-related mortality and single-vehicle night-time crashes remained relatively stable. In particular, rates of emergency presentations for intoxication and alcohol related ambulance attendances increased dramatically. Contrastingly, survey-derived estimates of the rate of risky-drinking among Victorians were stable over the time-period examined. Conclusions: Evidence across the data examined suggests significant increases in alcohol-related harm taking place during a period of relatively stable alcohol consumption levels. This disparity maybe accounted for by changing drinking patterns among small, high-risk, subgroups of the population. Implications: The sharply increasing ratesof alcohol-related harm among Victorians suggest that changes to alcohol policies focusing on improving public health are necessary.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-38602017-09-13T16:01:43Z Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria Livingston, M. Matthews, S. Barratt, Monica Lloyd, B. Room, R. trends alcohol intoxication violence alcohol consumption emergency medicine Objective: To examine recent trends in alcohol-related harm and risky drinking in Victoria, Australia. Methods: The study compiled eight measures of alcohol-related harm from published and unpublished sources, covering data relating to health, crime, alcohol treatment and traffic crashes for the financial years 1999/2000 to 2007/08. In addition, published estimates of short and long-term risky drinking from three sets of surveys between 2001 and 2007 were examined. Results: Six of the eight harm indicators substantially increased, while only alcohol-related mortality and single-vehicle night-time crashes remained relatively stable. In particular, rates of emergency presentations for intoxication and alcohol related ambulance attendances increased dramatically. Contrastingly, survey-derived estimates of the rate of risky-drinking among Victorians were stable over the time-period examined. Conclusions: Evidence across the data examined suggests significant increases in alcohol-related harm taking place during a period of relatively stable alcohol consumption levels. This disparity maybe accounted for by changing drinking patterns among small, high-risk, subgroups of the population. Implications: The sharply increasing ratesof alcohol-related harm among Victorians suggest that changes to alcohol policies focusing on improving public health are necessary. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3860 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00568.x Blackwell unknown
spellingShingle trends
alcohol intoxication
violence
alcohol consumption
emergency medicine
Livingston, M.
Matthews, S.
Barratt, Monica
Lloyd, B.
Room, R.
Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria
title Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria
title_full Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria
title_fullStr Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria
title_full_unstemmed Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria
title_short Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria
title_sort diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in victoria
topic trends
alcohol intoxication
violence
alcohol consumption
emergency medicine
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3860