Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39721740›Full record

ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2025

Socioeconomic position, alcohol use and alcohol-attributable emergency department visits.

Brendan T Smith, Claire Benny, Alessandra T Andreacchi, Naomi Schwartz, Christine M Warren, Samantha Forbes, Erin Hobin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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

7 authors.

Brendan T SmithPublic Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada brendan.smith@oahpp.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2785-1246
Claire BennyPublic Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Alessandra T AndreacchiPublic Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Naomi SchwartzPublic Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Christine M WarrenPublic Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Samantha ForbesPublic Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Erin HobinPublic Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDifferential vulnerability to alcohol contributes to socioeconomic inequities in alcohol-attributable harm. This study aimed to estimate the sex-/gender-specific joint effects of socioeconomic position (SEP) and heavy episodic drinking or volume of alcohol use on 100% alcohol-attributable emergency department (ED) visits.

methodsWe conducted a cohort study among 36 900 men and 39 700 women current and former alcohol consumers aged 15-64 from population-representative Canadian Community Health Surveys (2003-2008) linked to administrative ED visit data through 2017 in Ontario and Alberta. We estimated sex-/gender-specific associations between SEP (both education and income) and heavy episodic drinking (≥5 standard drinks on one occasion, at least monthly) or volume of alcohol use (standard drinks per week) on incident alcohol-attributable ED visits and assessed additive interactions using the Synergy Index (S).

resultsLower levels of education (eg, less than high school vs Bachelor's degree or above: men: adjusted HR (aHR)=3.71, 95% CI 2.47 to 5.58; women: aHR=1.75, 95% CI 1.15 to 2.68) and income (eg, quintile (Q)1 vs Q5, men: aHR=2.07, 95% CI 1.35 to 3.17; women: aHR=1.84, 95% CI 0.91 to 3.71) were associated with increased rates of alcohol-attributable ED visits. Among men and women, superadditive joint effects (ie, greater than the sum of both exposures experienced independently) were observed between low SEP (education and income) and heavy episodic drinking and higher volume of alcohol use on alcohol-attributable ED visits.

interpretationOur results indicate that individuals with lower SEP experience increased vulnerability to alcohol use and related harms. These findings highlight the urgent need for population-level interventions that reduce both the high burden and socioeconomic inequities in alcohol-attributable harm.

Indexed as

Alcohol DrinkingEmergency Service, HospitalSocial ClassAdolescentAdultAlbertaCohort StudiesEmergency Room VisitsFemaleHealth SurveysHumansMaleMiddle AgedOntarioSocioeconomic FactorsYoung AdultCOHORT STUDIESHealth inequalitiesPUBLIC HEALTHSOCIAL CLASSSUBSTANCE ABUSE

Identifiers

PMID39721740
PMCPMC12171498

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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.