Browsing by Author "Ferreira-Borges, Carina"

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    Impact of the WHO “best buys” for alcohol policy on consumption and health in the Baltic countries and Poland 2000–2020
    (2023-10) Rehm, Jürgen; Badaras, Robertas; Ferreira-Borges, Carina; Galkus, Lukas; Gostautaite Midttun, Nijole; Gobiņa, Inese; Janik-Koncewicz, Kinga; Jasilionis, Domantas; Jiang, Huan; Kim, Kawon Victoria; Lange, Shannon; Liutkutė-Gumarov, Vaida; Manthey, Jakob; Miščikienė, Laura; Neufeld, Maria; Petkevičienė, Janina; Radišauskas, Ričardas; Reile, Rainer; Room, Robin; Stoppel, Relika; Tamutienė, Ilona; Tran, Alexander; Trišauskė, Justina; Zatoński, Mateusz; Zatoński, Witold A.; Zurlytė, Ingrida; Štelemėkas, Mindaugas; Department of Public Health and Epidemiology; Institute of Public Health
    Alcohol use is a major risk factor for burden of disease. This narrative review aims to document the effects of major alcohol control policies, in particular taxation increases and availability restrictions in the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) between 2000 and 2020. These measures have been successful in curbing alcohol sales, in general without increasing consumption of alcoholic beverages from unrecorded sources; although for more recent changes this may have been partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, findings from time-series analyses suggest improved health, measured as reductions in all-cause and alcohol-attributable mortality, as well as narrowing absolute mortality inequalities between lower and higher educated groups. For most outcomes, there were sex differences observed, with alcohol control policies more strongly affecting males. In contrast to this successful path, alcohol control policies were mostly dismantled in the neighbouring country of Poland, resulting in a rising death toll due to liver cirrhosis and other alcohol-attributable deaths. The natural experiment in this region of high-income European countries with high consumption levels highlights the importance of effective alcohol control policies for improving population health.
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    Self-reported changes in alcohol and tobacco use during COVID-19 : findings from the eastern part of WHO European Region
    (2022-06-01) Kilian, Carolin; Neufeld, Maria; Manthey, Jakob; Alavidze, Sophiko; Bobrova, Anastacia; Baron-Epel, Orna; Berisha, Merita; Bilici, Rabia; Davletov, Kairat; Isajeva, Laura; Kantaş Yılmaz, Fatma; Karatkevich, Tatsiana; Mereke, Alibek; Musić Milanović, Sanja; Galstyan, Kristine; Muslić, Ljiljana; Okoliyski, Michail; Shabani, Zana; Štelemėkas, Mindaugas; Sturua, Lela; Sznitman, Sharon R; Ünübol, Başak; Ferreira-Borges, Carina; Rehm, Jürgen
    BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic might impact substance use behaviours around the globe. In this study, we investigate changes in alcohol and tobacco use in the second half of 2020 in countries of the eastern part of the WHO European Region. METHODS: Self-reported changes in alcohol and tobacco use among 11 295 adults from 18 countries in the eastern part of the WHO European Region were collected between August 2020 and January 2021. The non-probabilistic sample was weighted for age, gender and education. For each country, proportions of respondents reporting a decrease, no change or increase in substance use over the past 3 months were examined, and multinomial regression models were used to test associations with age, gender and past-year alcohol use. RESULTS: In most countries, about half of the respondents indicating past-year alcohol or tobacco use reported no change in their substance use. Of those alcohol users who reported changes in their alcohol use, a larger proportion reported a decrease than an increase in most countries. The opposite was true for tobacco use. Women, young adults and past-year harmful alcohol users were identified as being more likely to change their substance use behaviour. CONCLUSION: We found diverging overall trends for alcohol and tobacco use in the second half of 2020. The patterns of change vary according to age, gender and past-year substance use. Individuals at risk to increase their substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic require most policy considerations.