Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40041952›Full record

SynthesisAddiction (Abingdon, England)2025

A systematic review of adolescent alcohol-related harm trends in high-income countries with declines in adolescent consumption.

Emma Vieira, Nicholas Taylor, Abigail Stevely, Amy Pennay, Jonas Raninen, John Holmes, Rakhi Vashishtha, Michael Livingston

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  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

8 authors.

Emma VieiraNational Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0786-056X
Nicholas TaylorNational Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8700-5909
Abigail StevelySheffield Addictions Research Group, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Amy PennayNational Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6271-8996
Jonas RaninenCentre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6938-0246
John HolmesSheffield Addictions Research Group, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9283-2151
Rakhi VashishthaProgramme in Health services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1890-7765
Michael LivingstonNational Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8995-9386

Funding

Australian Research Council FT210100656National Medical Research Grant MOH-001199The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) 2021-01725Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 204000Wellcome Trust 208090/Z/17/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimsAdolescent alcohol consumption decreased in high-income countries during the 2000s and 2010s. While evidence for declining consumption is clear, there has been less research tracking trends in alcohol-related harms. This article reviewed trends in adolescent alcohol-related harms in high-income countries where a decline in consumption had occurred and investigated sex-based differences in trends.

methodsThe databases Medline, CINAHL, Scopus and PubMed were systematically searched, with grey literature searches also conducted. Studies were included if they reported on harm rates between 2005 and 2019 for adolescents (10-19 years) from countries where a reduction in adolescent drinking occurred. Health-system based measures of alcohol-related harm were used (e.g. hospital admissions or mortality data). Search terms included alcohol, adolescents, alcohol-related harms, trends or synonyms. Risk of bias was assessed, primary screening was conducted by one author with checks by another, and data extraction was completed by three authors with accuracy checks conducted. The results are presented via narrative synthesis.

resultsSystematic searches resulted in 1311 results. A total of 18 systematic search and 23 grey literature sources were included. For many countries, alcohol-related harms have decreased since 2005, following trends in declining consumption. This evidence was strongest in Anglosphere countries, where eight of thirteen records (62%) indicated declines, followed by North America, where declines were present in four of eleven records (36%). Trends from mainland Europe were contradictory, with only four of thirteen (31%) indicating decreases in harms. Increases in harms for some female and student populations were reported in some jurisdictions.

conclusionsAlcohol-related harms for young people have generally declined in countries where youth drinking has fallen, although the declines in harm have been smaller than the declines in drinking. Declines in alcohol-related harm were strongest in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, followed by North America.

Indexed as

Developed CountriesUnderage DrinkingAdolescentChildFemaleHumansMaleNorth AmericaYoung Adultadolescentsalcoholalcohol‐related harmsex‐based differencessystematic reviewtrends

Identifiers

PMID40041952
PMCPMC12215224

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.