Alcoholic beverage consumption and female breast cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.

Alcohol consumption is an established cause of female breast cancer. This systematic review examines in detail the association between alcohol and female breast cancer overall and among the described subgroups, using all of the evidence to date. A systematic review of PubMed and Embase was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Effect of alcohol health warning labels on knowledge related to the ill effects of alcohol on cancer risk and their public perceptions in 14 European countries: an online survey experiment.

Background: Alcohol health-warning labels are a policy option that can contribute to the reduction of alcohol-related harms, but their effects and public perception depend on their content and format. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of health warnings on knowledge that alcohol causes cancer, the perceptions of three different message topics (responsible drinking, general health harm of alcohol, and alcohol causing cancer), and the role of images included with the cancer message.

Methods: In this online survey experiment, distributed in 14 European countries and targeting adults of the legal alcohol-purchase age who consumed alcohol, participants were randomly allocated to one of six label conditions using a pseudorandom number generator stratified by survey language before completing a questionnaire with items measuring knowledge and label perceptions.

Classifying national drinking patterns in Europe between 2000 and 2019: A clustering approach using comparable exposure data.

Background And Aims: Previously identified national drinking patterns in Europe lack comparability and might be no longer be valid due to changes in economic conditions and policy frameworks. We aimed to identify the most recent alcohol drinking patterns in Europe based on comparable alcohol exposure indicators using a data-driven approach, as well as identifying temporal changes and establishing empirical links between these patterns and indicators of alcohol-related harm.

Design: Data from the World Health Organization's monitoring system on alcohol exposure indicators were used.

Designing and implementing an experimental survey on knowledge and perceptions about alcohol warning labels.

Objectives: This paper describes the design and implementation of an online survey experiment to investigate the effects of alcohol warning labels on alcohol-related knowledge, risk perceptions and intentions.

Method: The survey collected self-reported data from 14 European countries through two waves of data collection with different recruitment strategies: dissemination via social media and public health agencies was followed by paid-for Facebook ads. The latter strategy was adopted to achieve broader population representation.

How much do Europeans know about the link between alcohol use and cancer? Results from an online survey in 14 countries.

Objective: In the EU, which has the highest drinking levels worldwide, cancer is the primary cause of alcohol-attributable deaths. Existing studies show gaps in public knowledge, but there is lack of systematic appraisal. The report presents original data from a cross-sectional survey conducted within the framework of an online experimental study in 14 European countries, which among other things assessed baseline knowledge of the alcohol-NCD link, particularly cancer.

Suboptimal Intake of Fruits and Vegetables in Nine Selected Countries of the World Health Organization European Region.

The objective of this study was to characterize fruit and vegetable consumption in 9 selected countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. We analyzed data on fruit and vegetable intake and participant sociodemographic characteristics for 30,455 adults in 9 Eastern European and Central Asian countries via standardized STEPS survey methodology. Fruit and vegetable consumption across all countries was suboptimal, with a high percentage of populations not meeting the WHO-recommended intake of at least 5 servings (400 g) per day.

Translating and adapting the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) for use in the Russian Federation: A multicentre pilot study to inform validation procedures.

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).

Impact of the WHO "best buys" for alcohol policy on consumption and health in the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020.

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.

Public awareness of the alcohol-cancer link in the EU and UK: a scoping review.

Background: Alcohol increases cancer risk, but less is known about public awareness of this link. This scoping review summarizes recent findings on the public awareness of alcohol as a cancer risk factor in European Union and UK.

Methods: Four databases (Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, CINAHL) were searched for papers containing data on awareness of alcohol as cancer risk factor in EU or UK published between January 2017 and December 2022, and complemented with grey literature searches.

Integrating maternal, newborn, child health and non-communicable disease care in the sustainable development goal era.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and maternal newborn and child health (MNCH) are two deeply intertwined health areas that have been artificially separated by global health policies, resource allocations and programming. Optimal MNCH care can provide a unique opportunity to screen for, prevent and manage early signs of NCDs developing in both the woman and the neonate. This paper considers how NCDs, NCD modifiable risk factors, and NCD metabolic risk factors impact MNCH.

Assessing the impact of providing digital product information on the health risks of alcoholic beverages to the consumer at point of sale: A pilot study.

Introduction: There is an ongoing policy debate in the European Union regarding the best method of providing information to consumers on the health risks of alcohol use. One of the proposed channels is via the provision of QR codes. This study tested the usage rate of QR codes placed on point-of-sale signs in a supermarket in Barcelona, Catalonia over a 1-week period.

Exploring educational inequalities in hypertension control, salt knowledge and awareness, and patient advice: insights from the WHO STEPS surveys of adults from nine Eastern European and Central Asian countries.

Objective: To inform strategies aimed at improving blood pressure (BP) control and reducing salt intake, we assessed educational inequalities in high blood pressure (HBP) awareness, treatment and control; physician's advice on salt reduction; and salt knowledge, perceptions and consumption behaviours in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Design: Data were collected in cross-sectional, population-based nationally representative surveys, using a multi-stage clustered sampling design. Five HBP awareness, treatment and control categories were created from measured BP and hypertension medication use.

Classifying alcohol control policies enacted between 2000 and 2020 in Poland and the Baltic countries to model potential impact.

Aims: The study's aim is to identify and classify the most important alcohol control policies in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Poland between 2000 and 2020.

Methods: Policy analysis of Baltic countries and Poland, predicting potential policy impact on alcohol consumption, all-cause mortality and alcohol-attributable hospitalizations was discussed.

Results: All Baltic countries implemented stringent availability restrictions on off-premises trading hours and different degrees of taxation increases to reduce the affordability of alcoholic beverages, as well as various degrees of bans on alcohol marketing.

Capturing Russian drinking patterns with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: An exploratory interview study in primary healthcare and narcology centers in Moscow.

Background: Despite a considerable reduction in alcohol consumption, Russia has one of the highest levels of alcohol-attributable burden of disease worldwide due to heavy episodic drinking patterns. Further improvement of alcohol control measures, including early provision of screening and brief interventions (SBI), is needed. The legislative framework for delivering SBI in Russia was introduced in 2013.

Impact of introducing a minimum alcohol tax share in retail prices on alcohol-attributable mortality in the WHO European Region: A modelling study.

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.

The WHO Prison Health Framework: a framework for assessment of prison health system performance.

Background: The Health in Prisons European Database (HIPED) aims to periodically collect data on prison health systems, services and health outcomes to inform equivalence of care for people living in prison. Recognized as the United Nations hub for health data in prisons, HIPED lacked an established framework to define its domains and indicators to measure progress. Therefore, the objectives of developing this framework were to inform surveillance systems at prison, local, regional, national and international level and to use it to guide improvement of prison health systems and cross-country comparison.

Digital Assessment Tools Using Animation Features to Quantify Alcohol Consumption: Systematic App Store and Literature Review.

Background: Accurate and user-friendly assessment tools for quantifying alcohol consumption are a prerequisite for effective interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm. Digital assessment tools (DATs) that allow the description of consumed alcoholic drinks through animation features may facilitate more accurate reporting than conventional approaches.

Objective: This review aims to identify and characterize freely available DATs in English or Russian that use animation features to support the quantitative assessment of alcohol consumption (alcohol DATs) and determine the extent to which such tools have been scientifically evaluated in terms of feasibility, acceptability, and validity.

Alcohol taxation, alcohol consumption and cancers in Lithuania: A case study.

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.

Pilot study to evaluate usability and acceptability of the 'Animated Alcohol Assessment Tool' in Russian primary healthcare.

Background And Aims: Accurate and user-friendly assessment tools quantifying alcohol consumption are a prerequisite to effective prevention and treatment programmes, including Screening and Brief Intervention. Digital tools offer new potential in this field. We developed the 'Animated Alcohol Assessment Tool' (AAA-Tool), a mobile app providing an interactive version of the World Health Organization's Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) that facilitates the description of individual alcohol consumption via culturally informed animation features.

Self-reported changes in alcohol and tobacco use during COVID-19: findings from the eastern part of WHO European Region.

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.

Prevalence of alcohol use disorders in primary health-care facilities in Russia in 2019.

Aims: To estimate prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUD) and alcohol dependence (AD) for Russia in 2019, based on clients in primary health-care facilities.

Design: Cross-sectional assessment of AUD and AD. Prevalence estimates were cross-validated using a treatment multiplier methodology.