Cutting price of alcohol is associated with higher mortality, study shows

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1504

Published 1 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1504
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1504

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Cutting price of alcohol is associated with higher mortality, study shows

Roger Dobson

¹ Abergavenny

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Lowering the price of alcohol is associated with an increasein alcohol related mortality, a study of the effects of substantialprice cuts in Finland indicates.

Alcohol related mortality rose by 16% among men and 31% amongwomen after a series of changes in the law in 2004 reduced theprice of alcoholic drinks in Finland (American Journal of Epidemiologydoi:10.1093/aje/kwn216).

"These results imply that a large reduction in the price ofalcohol led to substantial increases in alcohol related mortality,particularly among the less privileged, and in chronic diseasesassociated with heavy drinking," the authors, from the populationresearch unit of the University of Helsinki’s Departmentof Sociology, wrote.

In January 2004 it became legal in Finland to import virtuallyunlimited amounts of alcoholic drinks from other European Unioncountries for buyers’ own consumption. On 1 March taxeson alcohol were reduced by an average of . . . [Full text of this article]

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UK Governments latest initiatives to reduce the alcohol consumption is a step in the right direction.: Anthony V B Bathula, et al.
bmj.com, 4 Sep 2008 [Full text]
Re: UK Governments latest initiatives to reduce the alcohol consumption is a step in the right direction.: Raymond G Holder
bmj.com, 5 Sep 2008 [Full text]