SynthesisPharmacoEconomics2021
What are the Economic Costs to Society Attributable to Alcohol Use? A Systematic Review and Modelling Study.
Synthesis in PharmacoEconomics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05865847 (Unveiling the Alcohol Harm Paradox), which is not on this map. Cited by 87 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Unveiling the Alcohol Harm Paradox: Analysis of Socioeconomic Differences in Alcohol Harm in Finland in a Nationwide Cohort Study
Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review of the economic evidence surrounding the management of alcohol withdrawal.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Pooled it
- Baclofen for alcohol use disorder.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Engagement in alcohol-free activities, community-level economic disadvantage, and heavy drinking following alcohol treatment.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2026Trial
- App-based skills training to reduce problem drinking among adult internet help-seekers: a double-blinded randomized controlled trial.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Trial
- Automated, tailored adaptive mobile messaging to reduce alcohol consumption in help-seeking adults: A randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2024Trial
- Impact of alcohol use on economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states in 2000-2023: a structural equation modelling analysis.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Health and economic impact of universal screening and management of alcohol use disorders in India: An economic modelling study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Behavioral Impaired Control over Alcohol: Comparing Self-Medication and Behavioral Economic Models with the Interacting Effects of Acute Stress, Chronic Stress with Physical Neglect History, and Sex Assigned at Birth.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Modeling Heterogeneity in Health Risk Behaviors With a Dynamic Mixture Model Informed by Textual Occupational Data.Statistics in medicine · 2026Article
- Quantifying the potential of alcohol policies for cancer prevention in the EU: a modelling study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- Momentary cannabis effects on alcohol use among adults trying to quit or cut back on drinking.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- Latent Class Analysis of Substance Use Behaviors and Associations of Class Membership With Gender Affirmation, Social Determinants of Health, and HIV Status Among Transfeminine Adults in the Eastern and Southern United States.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2026Article
- Predicting relapse and rehospitalization in alcohol use disorder: A psychodiagnostic perspective.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- The global epidemiology of alcohol-associated liver disease.Hepatology communications · 2026Review
- The economic burden of alcohol in Belgium: incremental healthcare costs and lost productivity.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Using a return on investment analysis to estimate the economic impact of potential changes to alcohol control policies in Estonia.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Problematic Alcohol Use Among Adolescents in Germany: Representative Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Demographic variation in weekly alcohol use across countries in the Global Flourishing Study.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Relative efficacy of GLP-1 and GLP-1/GIP receptor agonists in the prevention of alcohol-use disorders using a target trial emulation approach.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2026Article
- Hypophyllanthin Protects Against Alcohol-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Rats: Involvement of Oxidative Stress, Inflammatory Cytokines, Apoptosis, and Autophagy.Journal of inflammation research · 2026Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlcohol-attributable costs to society are captured by cost-of-illness studies, however estimates are often not comparable, e.g. due to the omission of relevant cost components. In this contribution we (1) summarize the societal costs attributable to alcohol use, and (2) estimate the total costs under the assumption that all cost components are considered.
methodsA systematic review and meta-analyses were conducted for studies reporting costs from alcohol consumption for the years 2000 and later, using the EMBASE and MEDLINE databases. Cost estimates were converted into 2019 international dollars (Int$) per adult and into percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). For each study, weights were calculated to correct for the exclusion of cost indicators.
resultsOf 1708 studies identified, 29 were included, and the mean costs of alcohol use amounted to 817.6 Int$ per adult (95% confidence interval [CI] 601.8-1033.4), equivalent to 1.5% of the GDP (95% CI 1.2-1.7%). Adjusting for omission of cost components, the economic costs of alcohol consumption were estimated to amount to 1306 Int$ per adult (95% CI 873-1738), or 2.6% (95% CI 2.0-3.1%) of the GDP. About one-third of costs (38.8%) were incurred through direct costs, while the majority of costs were due to losses in productivity (61.2%). DISCUSSION: The identified cost studies were mainly conducted in high-income settings, with high heterogeneity in the employed methodology. Accounting for some methodological variations, our findings demonstrate that alcohol use continues to incur a high level of cost to many societies. REGISTRATION: PROSPERO #CRD42020139594.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.