Publications by authors named "Doug Beirness"

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a world-wide pandemic. Countries introduced public health measures to contain and reduce its spread. These measures included closures of educational institutions, non-essential businesses, events and activities, as well as working from and staying at home requirements.

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Issue: Low-risk drinking guidelines have been developed independently in a number of jurisdictions resulting in different sets of advice with different definitions of 'low risk'. This paper discusses some of the fundamental issues addressed by an expert advisory panel during the course of developing national guidelines for Canadians and summarises key sets of evidence that were influential.

Approach: The underlying reasoning and connection between the evidence and the guidelines is discussed in relation to: (i) how to minimise risk of long-term illnesses; (ii) how to minimise risk of short-term harms, for example injury; and (iii) alcohol use during pregnancy.

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A systematic review of the literature to assess the effectiveness of ignition interlocks for reducing alcohol-impaired driving and alcohol-related crashes was conducted for the Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide). Because one of the primary research issues of interest--the degree to which the installation of interlocks in offenders' vehicles reduces alcohol-impaired driving in comparison to alternative sanctions (primarily license suspension)--was addressed by a 2004 systematic review conducted for the Cochrane Collaboration, the current review incorporates that previous work and extends it to include more recent literature and crash outcomes. The body of evidence evaluated includes the 11 studies from the prior review, plus four more recent studies published through December 2007.

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