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Aims: The aim of this contribution was to estimate the impact of the last significant alcohol taxation increase in Lithuania in 2017 on alcohol consumption, incident cancer cases, and cancer mortality, as well as the number of cancer outcomes that could have potentially been averted in 2018 had larger increases in alcohol excise taxation been applied. Design: Statistical modelling was used to estimate the change in alcohol per capita consumption following the tax increase, and alcohol-attributable fraction methodology was then used to estimate the associated cancer incidence and mortality. Potential increases of current excise duties were modelled in two steps. First, beverage-specific price elasticities of demand were used to predict the associated decreases in consumption and cancer outcomes, and second, the outcomes arising from the actual numbers and the modelled numbers were compared. Method: Data were taken from the following sources: alcohol consumption data from Statistics Lithuania and the WHO, cancer data from the International Agency of Research on Cancer, and risk relations and elasticities of demand from published meta-analyses. Results: A total of 15,857 new cancer cases (8,031 in women and 7,826 in men) and 8,534 cancer deaths (3,757 in women and 4,777 in men) were recorded in Lithuania in 2018. Using the attributable fraction methodology, we estimate that 4.8% of 761 of these new cancer cases were attributable to alcohol use (284 in women; 477 in men), as well as 5.5% or 466 cancer deaths (115 in women; 351 in men). With the taxation increase of 2017, 45 new cases and 24 deaths will be averted over the next 10 years. Further taxation increases of 100% could double the number of new cancer cases averted or saved. Conclusion: In a high-consumption European country like Lithuania, alcohol use is an important and avoidable risk factor for cancer. Taxation is an important measure to reduce the alcohol-attributable cancer burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Prevention of cancer has been identified as a major public health priority for Europe, and alcohol is a leading risk factor for various types of cancer. This contribution estimates the number of cancer cases that could have potentially been averted in 2018 in 4 European countries if an increase in alcohol excise taxation had been applied.Methods: Current country and beverage-specific excise taxation of 4 member states of the WHO European Region (Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Sweden) was used as a baseline, and the potential impacts of increases of 20, 50, and 100% to current excise duties were modelled. A sensitivity analysis was performed, replacing the current tax rates in the 4 countries by those levied in Finland. The resulting increase in tax was assumed to be fully incorporated into the consumer price, and beverage-specific price elasticities of demand were obtained from meta-analyses, assuming less elasticity for heavy drinkers. Model estimates were applied to cancer incidence rates for the year 2018.Results: In the 4 countries, >35,000 cancer cases in 2018 were caused by alcohol consumption, with the highest rate of alcohol-attributable cancers recorded in Germany and the lowest in Sweden. An increase in excise duties on alcohol would have significantly reduced these numbers, with between 3 and 7% of all alcohol-attributable cancer cases being averted if taxation had been increased by 100%. If the 4 countries were to adopt an excise taxation level equivalent to the one currently imposed in Finland, an even higher proportion of alcohol-attributable cancers could be avoided, with Germany alone experiencing 1,600 fewer cancer cases in 1 year.Discussion/conclusion: Increasing excise duties can markedly reduce cancer incidence in European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an update on the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) in Europe as of April 2021. Topics discussed include the discussion of public health futures and opportunities at the virtual European Public Health Conference 2021, plan of the EUPHA to adopt the open access model for the "European Journal of Public Health," and significance change in leadership at the EUPHAnxt network.

Issues The last Soviet anti‐alcohol campaign of 1985 resulted in considerably reduced alcohol consumption and saved thousands of lives. But once the campaign's policies were abandoned and the Soviet alcohol monopoly broken up, a steep rise in mortality was observed in many of the newly formed successor countries, although some kept their monopolies. Almost 30 years after the campaign's end, the region faces diverse challenges in relation to alcohol. Approach: The present narrative review sheds light on recent drinking trends and alcohol policy developments in the 15 Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, highlighting the most important setbacks, achievements and best practices. Vignettes of alcohol control policies in Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Uzbekistan are presented to illustrate the recent developments. Key Findings: Over the past decade, drinking levels have declined in almost all FSU countries, paralleled by the introduction of various alcohol‐control measures. The so‐called three 'best buys' put forward by the World Health Organization to reduce alcohol‐attributable burden (taxation and other measures to increase price, restrictions on alcohol availability and marketing) are relatively well implemented across the countries. Implications: In recent years, evidence‐based alcohol policies have been actively implemented as a response to the enormous alcohol‐attributable burden in many of the countries, although there is big variance across and within different jurisdictions. Conclusion: Strong declines in alcohol consumption were observed in the 15 FSU countries, which have introduced various alcohol control measures in recent years, resulting in a reduction of alcohol consumption in the World Health Organization European region overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To study the impact of alcohol control policy measures (i.e. increases in taxation, restrictions on availability, including minimum purchasing age regulations, legislation on drink driving and advertisement bans) on alcohol‐related traffic harm in Lithuania between January 2004 and February 2019. Design Analyses of trend data on the proportion of alcohol‐related collisions and crashes, injury and mortality, adjusting for secular trends, seasonality, periods of alcohol control measure implementation and economic development. Generalized additive mixed models were used. Multiple sensitivity analyses were conducted. Setting: Lithuania. Cases Monthly number of alcohol‐related cases of traffic collisions and crashes, injuries and deaths. Interventions and comparators: Periods of time during which new alcohol control measures were implemented and/or augmented compared to periods when they were not. Measurements Monthly data for 2004 to 2019 from routine statistics of the Lithuanian Road Police Service. Findings All indicators decreased consistently and significantly after the implementation of alcohol control measures, including increased taxation, reduction of availability and a ban on advertisement, starting in 2014. On average, each implemented policy measure permanently reduced the proportion of alcohol‐attributable crashes by 0.55% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.21–0.90%; P = 0.002], the proportion of alcohol‐attributable injuries by 0.60% (95% CI = 0.24–0.97%; P = 0.001) and the proportion of alcohol‐attributable deaths by 0.13% (95% CI = 0.10–0.15%; P < 0.001). Conclusions: Alcohol control policy measures, including measures to reduce overall level of alcohol consumption, were associated with a marked decrease in alcohol‐related traffic harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Aims: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is one of the most widely used screening instruments worldwide. Although it was translated into many languages, not many country-specific adaptations exist, and a formal validation procedure of the Russian version has been carried out only recently. The present contribution documents the different steps taken to formally translate and adapt a Russian-specific version of the AUDIT (RUS-AUDIT). Methods: The AUDIT was translated into Russian following an established protocol, revised and adapted to the country context using an expert panel, and field-tested in an iterative approach, in line with WHO rules on instrument translation and adaptation A total of three pilot phases were carried out on 134 patients from primary healthcare (PHC) and 33 patients from specialised alcohol treatment facilities (narcology), guided by a specially established advisory board. Changes in each version were informed by the findings of the previous pilot phase and a thorough panel discussion. Results: Based on the findings of three different pilot phases, the RUS-AUDIT was developed as a paper-and-pencil interview for PHC professionals. Since various issues with representation and counting of standard drinks for the second test item arose, a special show card was developed to support the assessment. Preliminary AUDIT-C scores indicated that more than one-third of the screened women (34.2%) and about half of the screened men (50.9%) from PHC facilities have exceeded risk thresholds. Conclusions: The RUS-AUDIT was constructed as a feasible assessment tool for interviewers and patients. The large number of PHC patients who exceed the risk threshold has corroborated the need for formal validation and Russia-specific cut-off scores, considering the specific drinking patterns., Competing Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

Background: Alcohol use and its burden constitute one of the largest public health challenges in the WHO European Region. Raising alcohol taxes is a cost-effective "best buy" measure to reduce alcohol consumption, but its implementation remains uneven. This paper provides an overview of existing tax structures in 50 countries and subregions of the Region, estimates their proportions of tax on retail prices of beer, wine, and spirits, and quantifies the number of deaths that could be averted annually if these tax shares were raised to a minimum level., Methods: Review of databases and statistical reports on taxes and mean retail prices of alcohol beverages in the Region. Affordability was calculated based on alcohol prices, adjusted for differences in purchasing power. Consumption changes and averted mortality were modelled assuming two scenarios. In Scenario 1, a minimum excise tax share level of 25% of the beverage-specific retail price was assumed for all countries. In Scenario 2, in addition to a minimum excise tax share level of 15% it was assumed that per unit of ethanol minimal retail prices were the same irrespective of alcoholic beverages (equalisation). Sensitivity analyses were conducted for different price elasticities., Findings: Alcohol is very affordable in the Region and alcohol taxes have clearly been under-utilized as a public health measure, constituting on average only 5·7%, 14·0% and 31·3% of the retail prices of wine, beer, and spirits, respectively. Tax shares were higher in the eastern part of the Region compared to the EU, where various countries did not have excise taxes on wine. Annually, the introduction of a minimum tax share of 25% (Scenario 1) could avert 40,033 (95% CI: 38,054-46,097) deaths in the WHO European Region (with 753,454,300 inhabitants older than 15 years of age). If a 15% tax share with equalisation were implemented (Scenario 2), 132,906 (95% CI: (124,691-151,674) deaths could be averted. All sensitivity analyses with different elasticities yielded outcomes close to those of the main analyses., Interpretation: Similar to tobacco taxes, increasing alcohol taxes should be considered to be a health-based measure aimed at saving lives. Many countries have hesitated to apply higher taxes to alcohol, but the present results show a clear health benefit as a result of implementing a minimum tax share., Funding: This work was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (1R01AA028224) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Neurosciences, and Mental Health and Addiction (SMN-13950)., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Aims: The aim of this contribution was to estimate the impact of the last significant alcohol taxation increase in Lithuania in 2017 on alcohol consumption, incident cancer cases, and cancer mortality, as well as the number of cancer outcomes that could have potentially been averted in 2018 had larger increases in alcohol excise taxation been applied., Design: Statistical modelling was used to estimate the change in alcohol per capita consumption following the tax increase, and alcohol-attributable fraction methodology was then used to estimate the associated cancer incidence and mortality. Potential increases of current excise duties were modelled in two steps. First, beverage-specific price elasticities of demand were used to predict the associated decreases in consumption and cancer outcomes, and second, the outcomes arising from the actual numbers and the modelled numbers were compared., Method: Data were taken from the following sources: alcohol consumption data from Statistics Lithuania and the WHO, cancer data from the International Agency of Research on Cancer, and risk relations and elasticities of demand from published meta-analyses., Results: A total of 15,857 new cancer cases (8,031 in women and 7,826 in men) and 8,534 cancer deaths (3,757 in women and 4,777 in men) were recorded in Lithuania in 2018. Using the attributable fraction methodology, we estimate that 4.8% of 761 of these new cancer cases were attributable to alcohol use (284 in women; 477 in men), as well as 5.5% or 466 cancer deaths (115 in women; 351 in men). With the taxation increase of 2017, 45 new cases and 24 deaths will be averted over the next 10 years. Further taxation increases of 100% could double the number of new cancer cases averted or saved., Conclusion: In a high-consumption European country like Lithuania, alcohol use is an important and avoidable risk factor for cancer. Taxation is an important measure to reduce the alcohol-attributable cancer burden., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2021.)