Policy Actors' Perceptions of Conflicts of Interest and Alcohol Industry Engagement in UK Policy Processes.

Background: Alcohol industry organisations occupy a prominent position in UK alcohol policy, but their involvement has been contested by public health bodies on the basis that a conflict of interest (COI) exists between their economic objectives and those of public health. There are ongoing debates in the research literature about how to conceptualise COI and mitigate this in health research and practise. However, less attention has been paid to these issues in relation to the alcohol industry specifically.

Alcohol policy changes during the first three-months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Development and application of a classification scheme.

Background: Policy changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted on alcohol control. This study describes the development and application of a classification scheme to map alcohol policy changes during the first three-months of the COVID-19 pandemic in five countries and/or subnational jurisdictions.

Method: A pre-registered systematic review of policy decisions from March to May 2020, in Australia/New South Wales, Canada/Ontario, Chile, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Development of a framework for action to advocate for a coherent prevention policy for tobacco, alcohol, and foods high in fats, salt, or sugar: a mixed-methods approach.

Background: Tobacco, alcohol, and foods high in fats, salt, or sugar (HFSS) are health harming products. Limited progress in prevention is partly due to health-harming industry lobbying. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Alcohol Health Alliance, and Obesity Health Alliance collaborated with the aim of developing a framework for action to address the saturation of these products in our environment.

Adjunctive Medication Management and Contingency Management to enhance adherence to acamprosate for alcohol dependence: the ADAM trial RCT.

Background: Acamprosate is an effective and cost-effective medication for alcohol relapse prevention but poor adherence can limit its full benefit. Effective interventions to support adherence to acamprosate are therefore needed.

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of Medication Management, with and without Contingency Management, compared to Standard Support alone in enhancing adherence to acamprosate and the impact of adherence to acamprosate on abstinence and reduced alcohol consumption.

Co-use of cannabis and alcohol before and after Canada legalized nonmedical cannabis: A repeat cross-sectional study.

Background: This study examined changes in population-level co-use of cannabis and alcohol before and 12 months after nonmedical cannabis legalization in Canada, relative to the United States that had previously legalized and not legalized (US legal and illegal states, respectively).

Methods: Data are from waves 1 and 2 of the International Cannabis Policy Study, collected in 2018 (before) and 2019 (12 months after legalization in Canada). Respondents aged 16-65 years from Canada ( = 25,313) and US legal ( = 25,189) and US illegal ( = 19,626) states completed an online survey.

A comparative study of industry responses to government consultations about alcohol and gambling in the UK.

Background: There is growing evidence that common strategies are used across unhealthy commodity industries (UCIs) to influence policy decisions in line with their commercial interests. To date, there have been relatively few studies comparing corporate political activity (CPA) across UCIs, especially comparing the alcohol and gambling industries.

Methods: A comparative and inductive thematic analysis of alcohol and gambling industry submissions to two House of Lords (HoL) inquiries in the UK was conducted.

Home drinking during and post-COVID-19: Why the silence on domestic violence?

There is a well-established body of evidence demonstrating alcohol is a compounding factor increasing both the occurrence and the severity of domestic violence in intimate relationships. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures such as lockdowns and social distancing have contributed to a rise in domestic violence. Yet, despite the closure of public drinking venues and substantial changes to the home drinking landscape, the role of alcohol in domestic violence has received little attention from both the alcohol and domestic violence fields.

The COVID-19 hangover: why we need to take harm caused by alcohol seriously as an indirect effect of the pandemic.

In the UK, harm caused by alcohol has worsened since 2020. A recent report from the Institute of Alcohol Studies projecting future rates of major alcohol-related diseases highlights what this means for health and healthcare. The authors argue that this additional burden is not inevitable if effective policies are introduced.

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of face-to-face and electronic brief interventions versus screening alone to reduce alcohol consumption among high-risk adolescents presenting to emergency departments: three-arm pragmatic randomized trial (SIPS Junior high risk trial).

Background And Aims: Alcohol use increases throughout adolescence. Emergency department (ED) attendance is an opportunity for alcohol screening and brief intervention (ASBI), which is effective for adults. This trial evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ASBI compared with screening alone (SA) in high-risk adolescents.

Factors Associated with Adolescents' Support for Product Information and Health Messaging on Alcohol Packaging: A Cross-Sectional Study in the United Kingdom.

Aims: Adolescents in the UK are among the heaviest drinkers in Europe. The World Health Organization recommends alcohol product labelling to inform consumers about product information and health risks associated with alcohol use. This study investigates support for product information and health messaging on alcohol packaging among UK adolescents.

Underage Adolescents' Reactions to Adverts for Beer and Spirit Brands and Associations with Higher Risk Drinking and Susceptibility to Drink: A Cross-Sectional Study in the UK.

Aims: In the UK, adolescents under the minimum legal purchasing age (<18 years) are aware of a variety of alcohol marketing activities. It is therefore important to examine how such marketing appeals and how it might shape consumption. This study assessed the relationships between positive reactions to alcohol adverts and susceptibility to drink among never drinkers and higher-risk drinking among current drinkers.

The socioeconomic distribution of alcohol-related violence in England and Wales.

Inequalities in alcohol-related health harms have been repeatedly identified. However, the socioeconomic distribution of alcohol-related violence (violence committed by a person under the influence of alcohol)-and of subtypes such as alcohol-related domestic violence-remains under-examined. To examine this, data are drawn from nationally representative victimisation survey, the Crime Survey for England and Wales, from years 2013/14 to 2017/18.

Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy: Lessons for Alcohol Control Comment on "Towards Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy? An Analysis of Submissions to a Consultation on a Draft WHO Tool".

Ralston et al present an analysis of policy actor responses to a draft World Health Organization (WHO) tool to prevent and manage conflicts of interest (COI) in nutrition policy. While the Ralston et al study is focussed explicitly on food and nutrition, the issues and concepts addressed are relevant also to alcohol policy debates and present an important opportunity for shared learning across unhealthy commodity industries in order to protect and improve population health. This commentary addresses the importance of understanding how alcohol policy actors - especially decision-makers - perceive COI in relation to alcohol industry engagement in policy.

Associations between interrelated dimensions of socio-economic status, higher risk drinking and mental health in South East London: A cross-sectional study.

Aim: To examine patterns of hazardous, harmful and dependent drinking across different socio-economic groups, and how this relationship may be explained by common mental disorder.

Methods And Findings: Between 2011-2013, 1,052 participants (age range 17-91, 53% female) were interviewed for Phase 2 of the South East London Community Health study. Latent class analysis was used to define six groups based on multiple indicators of socio-economic status in three domains.

Independent Associations Between Different Measures of Socioeconomic Position and Smoking Status: A Cross-Sectional Study of Adults in England.

Introduction: To gain a better understanding of the complex and independent associations between different measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) and smoking in England.

Aims And Methods: Between March 2013 and January 2019 data were collected from 120 496 adults aged 16+ in England taking part in the Smoking Toolkit Study. Of these, 18.

Unacceptable failures: the final report of the Lancet Commission into liver disease in the UK.

This final report of the Lancet Commission into liver disease in the UK stresses the continuing increase in burden of liver disease from excess alcohol consumption and obesity, with high levels of hospital admissions which are worsening in deprived areas. Only with comprehensive food and alcohol strategies based on fiscal and regulatory measures (including a minimum unit price for alcohol, the alcohol duty escalator, and an extension of the sugar levy on food content) can the disease burden be curtailed. Following introduction of minimum unit pricing in Scotland, alcohol sales fell by 3%, with the greatest effect on heavy drinkers of low-cost alcohol products.

An Exploration of the Impact of Non-Dependent Parental Drinking on Children.

Aims: To examine the impact of non-dependent parental drinking on UK children aged 10-17.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey of UK parents and their children in 2017 (administered to one parent in a household, then their child, totaling 997 adults and 997 children), providing linked data on parental drinking from parent and child perspectives. The survey included measures of parents' alcohol consumption and drinking motivations (both reported by parents) and children's exposure to their parent's drinking patterns and children's experiences of negative outcomes following their parent's drinking (both reported by children), plus sociodemographic measures.