Browsing by Author "Telksnys, Tadas"

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    Alcohol control policies reduce all-cause mortality in Baltic Countries and Poland between 2001 and 2020
    (2023-12) Vaitkevičiūtė, Justina; Gobiņa, Inese; Janik-Koncewicz, Kinga; Lange, Shannon; Miščikienė, Laura; Petkevičienė, Janina; Radišauskas, Ričardas; Reile, Rainer; Štelemėkas, Mindaugas; Stoppel, Relika; Telksnys, Tadas; Tran, Alexander; Rehm, Jürgen; Zatoński, Witold A; Jiang, Huan; Department of Public Health and Epidemiology; Institute of Public Health
    Alcohol consumption in the Baltic countries and Poland is among the highest globally, causing high all-cause mortality rates. Contrary to Poland, the Baltic countries have adopted many alcohol control policies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) "best buys". The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of these policies, which were implemented between 2001 and 2020, on all-cause mortality. Monthly mortality data for men and women aged 20+ years of age in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were analysed for 2001 to 2020. A total of 19 alcohol control policies, fulfilling an a-priori defined definition, were implemented between 2001 and 2020 in the countries of interest, and 18 of them could be tested. Interrupted time-series analyses were conducted by employing a generalized additive mixed model (GAMM) for men and women separately. The age-standardized all-cause mortality rate was lowest in Poland and highest in Latvia and had decreased in all countries over the time period. Taxation increases and availability restrictions had short-term effects in all countries, on average reducing the age-standardized all-cause mortality rate among men significantly (a reduction of 2.31% (95% CI 0.71%, 3.93%; p = 0.0045)). All-cause mortality rates among women were not significantly reduced (a reduction of 1.09% (95% CI - 0.02%, 2.20%; p = 0.0554)). In conclusion, the alcohol control policies implemented between 2001 and 2020 reduced all-cause mortality among men 20+ years of age in Baltic countries and Poland, and thus, the practice should be continued.
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    Alcohol-attributable mortality and alcohol control policy in the Baltic Countries and Poland in 2001–2020 : an interrupted time-series analysis
    (2023-11-09) Radišauskas, Ričardas; Štelemėkas, Mindaugas; Petkevičienė, Janina; Trišauskė, Justina; Telksnys, Tadas; Miščikienė, Laura; Gobina, Inese; Stoppel, Relika; Reile, Rainer; Janik-Koncewicz, Kinga; Zatonski, Witold; Lange, Shannon; Tran, Alexander; Rehm, Jürgen; Jiang, Huan; Department of Public Health and Epidemiology; Institute of Public Health
    Background: The Baltic countries–Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia–are characterized by a high rate of fully alcohol-attributable mortality, compared with Poland. Alcohol control policy measures implemented since 2001 in the Baltic countries included a restriction on availability and an increase in excise taxation, among others. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between alcohol control policy implementation and alcohol-attributable mortality in the Baltic countries and Poland. Methods: Alcohol-attributable mortality data for 2001–2020 was defined by codes 100% alcohol-attributable for persons aged 15 years and older in the Baltic countries and Poland. Alcohol control policies implemented between 2001 and 2020 were identified, and their impact on alcohol-attributable mortality was evaluated using an interrupted time-series methodology by employing a generalized additive model. Results: Alcohol-attributable mortality was significantly higher in the Baltic countries, compared with Poland, for both males and females. In the final reduced model, alcohol control policy significantly reduced male alcohol-attributable mortality by 7.60% in the 12 months post-policy implementation. For females, the alcohol control policy mean-shift effect was higher, resulting in a significant reduction of alcohol-attributable mortality by 10.77% in the 12 months post-policy implementation. The interaction effects of countries and policy tested in the full model were not statistically significant, which indicated that the impact of alcohol control policy on alcohol-attributable mortality did not differ across countries for both males and females. Conclusions: Based on the findings of the current study, alcohol control policy in the form of reduced availability and increased taxation was associated with a reduction in alcohol-attributable mortality among both males and females.