ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2021
Evaluating the impact of minimum unit pricing (MUP) on off-trade alcohol sales in Scotland: an interrupted time-series study.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Are We in Control? How Best to Include a Control Group in Interrupted Time Series Designs: A Simulation Study.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Regulatory policies for online alcohol access control: a comparative scoping review of international approaches.Korean journal of family medicine · 2026Article
- Sample size requirements to evaluate policies in addiction research using interrupted time series analysis (ITS): Tools and guidance.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Provincial and territorial results and recommendations from the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project: Room for improvement.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026Article
- Public health impacts of increasing the minimum unit price for alcohol in Scotland: A model-based appraisal.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Current and future trends in the consumption, sale and purchasing of alcohol-free and low-alcohol products in Great Britain, 2014 to 2023.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Assessing the early influence of COVID-19 in an analysis of the immediate implementation of Minimum Pricing for Alcohol on drinkers in Wales.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2024Article
- An investigation into patterns of Alcohol drinking in Scotland after the introduction of minimum unit pricing.PloS one · 2024Article
- [Does alcohol minimum unit pricing lead to a reduction in deaths and hospitalizations?]Innere Medizin (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2023Article
- Changes in alcohol purchases from grocery stores after authorising the sale of stronger beverages: The case of the Finnish alcohol legislation reform in 2018.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2022Article
- Making better use of natural experimental evaluation in population health.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2022Article
- Article
- Lockdown and licensed premises: COVID-19 lessons for alcohol policy.Drug and alcohol review · 2022Article
- Alcohol Consumption during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period: Predictors of At-Risk Drinking at Different AUDIT-C Cut-Off Thresholds.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Prospective Analysis of Minimum Pricing Policies to Reduce Excessive Alcohol Use and Related Harms in U.S. States.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2021Article
- Commentary on Robinson et al. (2021): Evaluating theories of change for public health policies using computer model discovery methods.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Article
- Effects of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in South Africa across different drinker groups and wealth quintiles: a modelling study.BMJ open · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsOn 1 May 2018, Scotland became the first country in the world to introduce minimum unit pricing (MUP), a strength-based floor price below which alcohol cannot be sold, across all alcoholic beverages. The legislation contains a sunset clause meaning a comprehensive mixed-methods evaluation of its impact across a range of outcomes will inform whether it will continue beyond its sixth year. In this study, we assessed the impact of MUP on off-trade alcohol sales (as a proxy for consumption) after its first year. DESIGN, SETTING AND
participantsControlled interrupted time-series regression was used to assess the impact of MUP on alcohol sales among off-trade retailers in Scotland in the year after it was introduced, with England and Wales (EW) being the control group. In adjusted analyses, we included household disposable income, on-trade alcohol sales and substitution between beverage categories as covariates. MEASUREMENTS: Weekly data on the volume of pure alcohol sold by off-trade retailers in Scotland and EW between January 2013 and May 2019, expressed as litres of pure alcohol per adult.
findingsThe introduction of MUP in Scotland was associated with a 3.5% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.2-4.9%] reduction in off-trade alcohol sales per adult after adjustment for the best available geographical control, disposable income and substitution. In unadjusted analysis, the introduction of MUP was associated with a 2.0% (95% CI = 0.4-3.6%) reduction in off-trade alcohol sales per adult in Scotland. In EW, there was a 2.4% (95% CI = 0.8-4.0%) increase during the same time-period. The reduction in off-trade alcohol sales in Scotland was driven by reduced sales of spirits, cider and perry beverage categories.
conclusionThe implementation of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland in 2018 appears to have been associated with a reduction in off-trade alcohol sales after its first year.
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