Access to Alcohol Outlets and Alcohol Consumption: Findings from VicLANES Professor Anne Kavanagh & Lauren Krnjacki Centre 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 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

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