February 7, 2013

expert reaction to alcohol pricing and alcohol-related deaths

A study in the journal Addiction showed the percentage of deaths caused by alcohol in British Columbia, Canada dropped more than expected when minimum alcohol price was increased, while alcohol-related deaths increased when more private alcohol stores were opened.

Dr James Nicholls, Research Manager, Alcohol Research UK, said:

“This study contributes to the evidence that minimum unit pricing for alcohol can have a positive impact on alcohol-related harm.  Looking at data from British Columbia between 2002-9, the researchers analyse a range of mortality indicators and find that there is a significant reduction in deaths that can be ‘wholly’ attributable to alcohol following an increase of 10% in minimum unit pricing.  This is important as ‘wholly’ attributable deaths provide a narrower measure than ‘alcohol attributable fractions’, which include conditions that may have other causes. 

“However, the effect of minimum pricing on a number of acute and chronic conditions is less clear, so the results do not demonstrate a uniform impact across all measures of harm. 

“Also, the analysis does not identify impact on specific population groups, which in the Canadian context include aboriginal communities known to be particularly at risk.

“However, the authors argue that the identified effects are likely to be due to minimum pricing targeting harmful groups in particular – which is relevant to wider debates about the capacity of minimum pricing to especially target at risk groups.

“Overall, this research does show some clear positive impacts from minimum unit pricing, so should provide an important contribution to current debates on the policy in the UK.”

Dr John Holmes, Research Fellow in Public Health, Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, University of Sheffield, said:

“This new research by Tim Stockwell and his team is a major contribution to the evidence on the impact of minimum pricing, and suggests that this type of policy can have substantial impacts in reducing the number of premature deaths associated with alcohol. This finding is a strong indication that the policy has reduced the consumption levels of those drinking at hazardous and harmful levels.

“Research from the University of Sheffield also suggests that the biggest impact of minimum unit pricing in England would be for hazardous and harmful drinkers.  A 40p minimum price (approximately equivalent to the Government’s proposed 45p in 2014) is estimated to lead to 1,190 fewer alcohol-related deaths in the tenth year after the policy is implemented and save £600m in direct costs to the health service over the first ten years of the policy.”

‘The relationship between changes to minimum alcohol prices, outlet densities and alcohol attributable deaths in British Columbia in 2002-2009’ by Zhao et al. published in Addiction on Thursday 7th February.