Access to Alcohol Outlets and Alcohol Consumption:

Findings from VicLANES

Professor Anne Kavanagh & Lauren KrnjackiCentre for Women’s Health, Gender & Society

Melbourne School of Population Health, University of Melbourne

Alcohol and harm

• Health and social problems

– Binge drinking

– Long term / chronic use

• Individual risk factors

– Male

– Young

– Lower socio-economic status

Alcohol environment

• Environmental risk factors

– Many outlets a problem?

• Reduce access Reduce consumption?

– National Alcohol Strategy

– Need further research to support this

What has been done?

• Internationally:

– Most studies from U.S.

– Alcohol related problems

– Mixed results

What has been done?

• Local evidence:

– Studied areas in Melbourne over time

– More outlets more harms in the area

– What happens to individuals?

Research question

• Does access to outlets close to home increase harmful alcohol consumption?

– Focus on bottle shops

– Focus on consumption

• How many outlets are a problem?

– Threshold effect?

VicLANES

• Conducted in Melbourne in late 2003

• Surveyed 4,500 people

• Investigated health behaviours

VicLANES

Data collection

• Individuals– Postal survey

– Valid response from 2349

• Outlets– List from Liquor Licensing Vic

– Audit to confirm location

Alcohol access

Number of outlets

•0

•1

• 2

• 3 - 4

• 5 - 7

• 8 or more

•1km radius

•1km network

•Outlet

•Home

Alcohol consumption

NHMRC Alcohol guidelines:

•Binge drinking (one session)– 6+ drinks for men / 4+ drinks for women

•Chronic drinking (weekly)– 29+ drinks for men / 15+ drinks for women

Alcohol consumption

Calculations

• Model: number of outlets and consumption?

• Controlled for the effect of:– Individual differences (age, income, gender)

– Area difference (wealth, distance from CBD)

– Able to isolate the effect of outlets on consumption

Results

Results

Interpretation

• More alcohol outlets risk of binge drinking

• Policy advice:– No more that ‘x’ outlets near a household?

• Restrict outlets based on:– Population density?

– Not more than ‘x’ distance from another outlet

Policy examples

• U.S. - Restrict licenses per capita

• U.K. - Alcohol disorder zones higher fees

• Locally - Assess cumulative impact

Recommendations

• Policy– Reduce or limit number of stores

– Evaluation of policy initiatives

• Research– Further research other licensed premises

– Further research to examine the impact of price

Acknowledgements

• Funding: VicHealth

• Principal Investigator VicLANES: Anne Kavanagh

• Chief Investigators on VicLANES: Gavin Turrell, Damien Jolley, David Crawford, Susan Donath

• Co-authors: Anne Kavanagh, Rebecca Bentley, Mary Kelly, Lukar Thornton, S. V. Subramanian

• Project Manager: Tanya King