Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37953993›Full record

ReviewThe Lancet regional health. Europe2023

Impact of the WHO "best buys" for alcohol policy on consumption and health in the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020.

Jürgen Rehm, Robertas Badaras, Carina Ferreira-Borges, Lukas Galkus, Nijole Gostautaite Midttun, Inese Gobiņa, Kinga Janik-Koncewicz, Domantas Jasilionis, Huan Jiang, Kawon Victoria Kim and 17 more

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in The Lancet regional health. Europe, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
9.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  10. Drug harms in Canada: A multi-criteria decision analysis.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

27 authors at 11 institutions in 9 countries.

Jürgen RehmInstitute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada.
Robertas BadarasFaculty of Medicine, Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Centre of Toxicology, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio g. 21, Vilnius LT-03101, Lithuania.
Carina Ferreira-BorgesWorld Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, UN City, Marmorvej 5, Copenhagen DK-2100, Denmark.
Lukas GalkusFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Nijole Gostautaite MidttunLithuanian Tobacco and Alcohol Control Coalition, Stikliu 8, Vilnius 01131, Lithuania.
Inese GobiņaDepartment of Public Health and Epidemiology, Riga Stradiņš University, Kronvalda Boulevard 9, Riga LV-1010, Latvia.
Kinga Janik-KoncewiczInstitute - European Observatory of Health Inequalities, Calisia University, Nowy Swiat 4, Kalisz 62-800, Poland.
Domantas JasilionisMax Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Laboratory of Demographic Data, Konrad-Zuse-Str. 1, Rostock 18057, Germany.
Huan JiangInstitute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada.
Kawon Victoria KimInstitute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada.
Shannon LangeInstitute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada.
Vaida Liutkutė-GumarovFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Jakob MantheyFaculty of Medicine, Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research (ZIS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistraße 52, Hamburg 20246, Germany.
Laura MiščikienėFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Maria NeufeldWorld Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, UN City, Marmorvej 5, Copenhagen DK-2100, Denmark.
Janina PetkevičienėFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Ričardas RadišauskasFaculty of Public Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Rainer ReileFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Robin RoomCentre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
Relika StoppelFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Ilona TamutienėFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Alexander TranInstitute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada.
Justina TrišauskėFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Mateusz ZatońskiInstitute - European Observatory of Health Inequalities, Calisia University, Nowy Swiat 4, Kalisz 62-800, Poland.
Witold A ZatońskiInstitute - European Observatory of Health Inequalities, Calisia University, Nowy Swiat 4, Kalisz 62-800, Poland.
Ingrida ZurlytėWHO Country Office Lithuania, A. Jakšto g. 12, LT-01105 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Mindaugas ŠtelemėkasFaculty of Public Health, Health Research Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilzes Str. 18, Kaunas 47181, Lithuania.
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences · LTCentre for Addiction and Mental Health · CAUniwersytet Kaliski im. Prezydenta Stanisława Wojciechowskiego · PLWorld Health Organization Regional Office for Europe · DKLithuanian Ornithological Society · LTRiga Stradiņš University · LVStockholm University · SEUniversität Hamburg · DEVilnius Cooperative College · LTVilnius University · LTVytautas Magnus University · LT

Funding

Evaluation of the impact of alcohol control policies on morbidity and mortality in Lithuania and other Baltic statesR01AA028224 · NIAAA · CENTRE FOR ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH · PI REHM, JUERGEN T, ŠTELEMĖKAS, MINDAUGAS · 2020 to 2024
$2.2M
NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA028224World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Alcohol use is a major risk factor for burden of disease. This narrative review aims to document the effects of major alcohol control policies, in particular taxation increases and availability restrictions in the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) between 2000 and 2020. These measures have been successful in curbing alcohol sales, in general without increasing consumption of alcoholic beverages from unrecorded sources; although for more recent changes this may have been partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, findings from time-series analyses suggest improved health, measured as reductions in all-cause and alcohol-attributable mortality, as well as narrowing absolute mortality inequalities between lower and higher educated groups. For most outcomes, there were sex differences observed, with alcohol control policies more strongly affecting males. In contrast to this successful path, alcohol control policies were mostly dismantled in the neighbouring country of Poland, resulting in a rising death toll due to liver cirrhosis and other alcohol-attributable deaths. The natural experiment in this region of high-income European countries with high consumption levels highlights the importance of effective alcohol control policies for improving population health.

Indexed as

AlcoholAll-cause mortalityAvailabilityBan on marketingControl policiesTaxation

Identifiers

PMID37953993
PMCPMC10636269
OpenAlexW4386333270

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.