ArticleThe Lancet. Public health2024
Effect of alcohol health warning labels on knowledge related to the ill effects of alcohol on cancer risk and their public perceptions in 14 European countries: an online survey experiment.
Article in The Lancet. Public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Effects of Personalized Feedback About ALDH2*2, Alcohol Use, and Associated Health Risks on Drinking Intention and Consumption: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Perceived Threat.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Trial
- Warning label messages about the cancer risk associated with alcohol: Effects of causal language.Addictive behaviors · 2025Trial
- Alcohol consumption and the risks of morbidity and mortality across 39 diseases and conditions: A population-based cohort study in Korea.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- On the Label: Implementation of Health Warnings on Alcohol Products in 13 European Countries.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Article
- Support for alcohol policies and its association with knowledge of alcohol-related health consequences: findings from 5 EU countries.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Educational Videos in Encouraging Preferences for Guideline-Based Cancer Screening in Japan: Three-Arm Pseudorandomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Article
- Opinions on the effect of alcohol on cancer risk among US adults in 2024.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- Translating nutrition science into national policy: comparative assessment of the 2025-2030 U. S. Dietary Guidelines and the Italian Mediterranean-based guidelines.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Education-based differences in alcohol health literacy in Germany.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Confronting alcohol's costly toll: why the European region needs clearer, evidence-based policy.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Article
- Alcoholic beverage consumption and female breast cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlcohol health-warning labels are a policy option that can contribute to the reduction of alcohol-related harms, but their effects and public perception depend on their content and format. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of health warnings on knowledge that alcohol causes cancer, the perceptions of three different message topics (responsible drinking, general health harm of alcohol, and alcohol causing cancer), and the role of images included with the cancer message.
methodsIn this online survey experiment, distributed in 14 European countries and targeting adults of the legal alcohol-purchase age who consumed alcohol, participants were randomly allocated to one of six label conditions using a pseudorandom number generator stratified by survey language before completing a questionnaire with items measuring knowledge and label perceptions. Effect on knowledge was assessed as a primary outcome by comparing participants who had increased knowledge after exposure to labels with the rest of the sample, for the six label conditions. Label perceptions were compared between label conditions as secondary outcomes.
findings19 110 participants completed the survey and were eligible for analysis. Our results showed that a third of the participants exposed to the cancer message increased their knowledge of alcohol causing cancer (increase for 1131 [32·5%, 95% CI 29·8 to 35·2] of 3409 participants [weighted percentage] for text-only message; increase for 1096 [33·3%, 30·4 to 36·2] of 3198 [weighted percentage] for message inlcuding pictogram; and increase for 1030 [32·5%, 29·6 to 35·4] of 3242 [weighted percentage] for message including graphic image), compared with an increase for 76 (2·4%, -1·2 to 6·0) of 3018 participants who viewed the control message. Logistic regression showed that cancer messages increased knowledge compared with the control label (odds ratio [OR]
interpretationHealth warnings are an effective policy option to increase knowledge of alcohol causing cancer, with a generalisable effect across several countries. Europeans consider alcohol health-warning labels to be comprehensible and acceptable, with cancer-specific health warnings having the highest perceived impact and relevance.
fundingEU4Health.
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