TY - JOUR
T1 - Health impacts of increasing alcohol prices in the European Union
T2 - A dynamic projection
AU - Lhachimi, Stefan K.
AU - Cole, Katie J.
AU - Nusselder, Wilma J.
AU - Smit, H. A.
AU - Baili, Paolo
AU - Bennett, Kathleen
AU - Pomerleau, Joceline
AU - McKee, Martin
AU - Charlesworth, Kate
AU - Kulik, Margarete C.
AU - MacKenbach, Johan P.
AU - Boshuizen, Hendriek
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - Objective: Western Europe has high levels of alcohol consumption, with corresponding adverse health effects. Currently, a major revision of the EU excise tax regime is under discussion. We quantify the health impact of alcohol price increases across the EU. Data and method: We use alcohol consumption data for 11 member states, covering 80% of the EU-27 population, and corresponding country-specific disease data (incidence, prevalence, and case-fatality rate of alcohol related diseases) taken from the 2010 published Dynamic Modelling for Health Impact Assessment (DYNAMO-HIA) database to dynamically project the changes in population health that might arise from changes in alcohol price. Results: Increasing alcohol prices towards those of Finland (the highest in the EU) would postpone approximately 54,000 male and approximately 26,100 female deaths over 10. years. Moreover, the prevalence of a number of chronic diseases would be reduced: in men by approximately 97,800 individuals with diabetes, 65,800 with stroke and 62,200 with selected cancers, and in women by about 19,100, 23,500, and 27,100, respectively. Conclusion: Curbing excessive drinking throughout the EU completely would lead to substantial gains in population health. Harmonisiation of prices to the Finnish level would, for selected diseases, achieve more than 40% of those gains.
AB - Objective: Western Europe has high levels of alcohol consumption, with corresponding adverse health effects. Currently, a major revision of the EU excise tax regime is under discussion. We quantify the health impact of alcohol price increases across the EU. Data and method: We use alcohol consumption data for 11 member states, covering 80% of the EU-27 population, and corresponding country-specific disease data (incidence, prevalence, and case-fatality rate of alcohol related diseases) taken from the 2010 published Dynamic Modelling for Health Impact Assessment (DYNAMO-HIA) database to dynamically project the changes in population health that might arise from changes in alcohol price. Results: Increasing alcohol prices towards those of Finland (the highest in the EU) would postpone approximately 54,000 male and approximately 26,100 female deaths over 10. years. Moreover, the prevalence of a number of chronic diseases would be reduced: in men by approximately 97,800 individuals with diabetes, 65,800 with stroke and 62,200 with selected cancers, and in women by about 19,100, 23,500, and 27,100, respectively. Conclusion: Curbing excessive drinking throughout the EU completely would lead to substantial gains in population health. Harmonisiation of prices to the Finnish level would, for selected diseases, achieve more than 40% of those gains.
KW - Alcohol drinking
KW - European Union
KW - Taxes
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ypmed.2012.06.006
DO - 10.1016/j.ypmed.2012.06.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 22713346
AN - SCOPUS:84866008317
VL - 55
SP - 237
EP - 243
JO - Preventive Medicine
JF - Preventive Medicine
SN - 0091-7435
IS - 3
ER -