ArticleAlcohol, clinical & experimental research2023
Effective alcohol policies are associated with reduced consumption among demographic groups who drink heavily.
Article in Alcohol, clinical & experimental research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health impact of alcohol regulatory interventions: a systematic review of policies in low- and middle-income countries.Health policy and planning · 2025Pooled it
- Support for Alcohol Control Policies Among US Alcohol Consumers.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Comparing alcohol policy environments in high-income jurisdictions with the International Alcohol Control Policy Index.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Evaluating the synergy: anxiety prevalence and alcohol consumption patterns in high-income countries using Granger causality analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Investigating Indicators to Assess and Support Alcohol Taxation Policy: Results From the International Alcohol Control (IAC) Study.International journal of health policy and management · 2025Article
- Using the International Alcohol Control (IAC) policy index to assess effects of legislative change in Aotearoa New Zealand.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Effective alcohol policies are associated with reduced consumption among demographic groups who drink heavily.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2023Article
- Effective alcohol policies and lifetime abstinence: An analysis of the International Alcohol Control policy index.Drug and alcohol review · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 10 institutions in 10 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlcohol policies stand out among other noncommunicable disease-relevant policies for the lack of uptake. Composite indicators have been developed to measure the effects of alcohol control policy. We investigated whether drinking patterns among demographic groups from general population samples of drinkers from diverse countries are associated with alcohol control policy as measured by the International Alcohol Control (IAC) Policy Index.
methodsRepresentative samples of adult drinkers from 10 countries (five high-income and five middle-income) were surveyed about alcohol consumption, using beverage and location-specific questions. MEASUREMENTS: The IAC Policy Index was analyzed with frequency, typical occasion quantity, and volume consumed. Analyses used mixed models that included interactions between country IAC Policy Index score and age group, gender, and education level.
findingsEach increase in IAC policy index score (reflecting more effective alcohol policy) was associated with a 13.9% decrease in drinking frequency (p = 0.006) and a 16.5% decrease in volume (p = 0.001). With each increase in IAC Policy Index score, both genders decreased for all three measures, but men less so than women. Women decreased their typical occasion quantity by 1.2% (p = 0.006), frequency by 3.1% (p < 0.001), and total volume by 4.2% (p < 0.001) compared to men. Low and mid-education groups decreased their typical occasion quantity by 2.6% (p < 0.001) and 1.6% (p = 0.001), respectively, compared to high education, while for drinking frequency the low education group increased by 7.0% (p < 0.001). There was an overall effect of age (F = 19.27, p < 0.0001), with 18-19 and 20-24-year-olds showing the largest decreases in typical occasion quantity with increasing IAC policy index score.
conclusionsThe IAC Policy Index, reflecting four effective policies, was associated with volume and frequency of drinking across 10 diverse countries. Each increase in the IAC Policy Index was associated with lower typical quantities consumed among groups reporting heavy drinking: young adults and less well-educated. There is value in implementing such alcohol policies and a need to accelerate their uptake globally.
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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.