PHO Rounds: Evaluating the Health Impacts of Alcohol Policies in Canada Using Innovative Methods

Alcohol is one of the leading risk factors for premature death and disability globally. Alcohol control policies (e.g., restricting physical availability of alcohol, increasing alcohol pricing, and banning advertising and marketing) are effective at reducing alcohol harm. During this Public Health Ontario (PHO) Rounds, presenters will discuss the impact of individual- and population-level exposures on alcohol harm and how they are related to the changing policy landscape. First, the impact of alcohol use on chronic disease will be presented, using alcohol use risk thresholds from Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health. Second, neighbourhood-level associations between physical alcohol availability and alcohol-attributable emergency department visits in Ontario will be discussed. Presenters will highlight equity-specific considerations and implications for alcohol policy decisions.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
• Evaluate how different levels of alcohol consumption (low, moderate, and at increasingly high risk) contribute to the risk of major chronic diseases.
• Analyze the influence of socioeconomic position on alcohol-attributable harms and the availability of alcohol across neighbourhoods.
• Discuss potential public health interventions, including alcohol consumption guidelines and alcohol outlet regulation, in reducing overall and equity-specific alcohol health harms.
• Explore longitudinal and spatial model approaches to assess the health impacts of alcohol use and availability across populations.
Presenter(s): Dr. Claire Benny and Samantha Forbes
The presentation can be found here: www.publicheal...