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Risk-based licensing of alcohol venues and emergency department injury presentations in two Australian states.
- Source :
-
The International journal on drug policy [Int J Drug Policy] 2019 Aug; Vol. 70, pp. 99-106. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Jun 22. - Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- Background: Risk-based licensing (RBL) is among the more recent policy interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm in and around licensed venues. RBL sets licence fees to reflect the venue's propensity to cause harm as a means of encouraging operators to improve their practices. We assessed whether the introduction of RBL in the Australian states of Queensland and Victoria was associated with a reduction in the incidence of emergency department (ED) injury presentations.<br />Methods: We employed an interrupted time series design using Prais-Winsten and Cochrane-Orcutt regression modelling to estimate step and slope parameters in injury incidence rates in each state. We defined the population as residents of the state, aged 15-54 years, the age group we considered most likely to be exposed to the night-time economy. To reduce noise, we confined cases to presentations during times previously identified as correlated with a high probability of alcohol involvement, namely 'high alcohol hours' (HAH). We adjusted our models for the alcopops tax, implemented shortly before RBL, and for assaults during low alcohol hours (LAH) as a proxy for other risk factors for assault.<br />Results: RBL was not associated with an overall reduction in the incidence of ED injury presentations during HAH in Queensland (β = 0.003; 95% CI: -0.010, 0.003, p = 0.318) or Victoria (β=-0.010; 95% CI: -0.021, 0.001, p = 0.087). Post-hoc subgroup analyses showed a reduction in ED injury presentations among men aged 20-39 years in Victoria (β=-0.026; 95% CI:-0.012, -0.040, p-0.0003) but this was not replicated in Queensland.<br />Conclusion: There was little evidence that RBL affected the incidence of ED presentations for injury. This may be due to weak financial penalties being applied to venues assessed as high-risk.<br /> (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Australia epidemiology
Female
Harm Reduction
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Sex Factors
Young Adult
Alcohol-Related Disorders epidemiology
Alcoholic Beverages legislation & jurisprudence
Emergency Service, Hospital statistics & numerical data
Licensure statistics & numerical data
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873-4758
- Volume :
- 70
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The International journal on drug policy
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 31234095
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.06.014