Adam Sherk1, Tim Stockwell1, Jürgen Rehm2,3,4,5,6,7,8, John Dorocicz1, Kevin D Shield2,4,8, Samuel Churchill1. 1. Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. 2. Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 3. Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 4. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 5. Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 7. Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy & Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. 8. Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Addiction and Mental Health.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Data regarding alcohol-caused health harms are required by policymakers for setting health priorities. However, these estimations are currently resource intensive, and estimates vary substantially by method. Thus, many countries, states, and regions do not track these harms. We address this limitation through creation of the International Model of Alcohol Harms and Policies (InterMAHP), an open-access alcohol harms estimator. InterMAHP consists of methodologies and program software designed to assist alcohol research teams in estimating alcohol-attributable mortality and morbidity, by region. It is available at www.intermahp.cisur.ca. Application is illustrated through updated estimates of alcohol-attributable mortality in Canada. METHOD: Mortality counts and per capita alcohol sales were obtained from Statistics Canada. Drinking and bingeing prevalences were obtained from the Canadian Substance Use Exposure Database. InterMAHP automated the calculations of alcohol-attributable fractions (AAF) using the modern AAF formulation and a gamma distribution to specify the continuous prevalence distribution of consumption. RESULTS: Alcohol is a leading driver of mortality in Canada. In 2016, more than 14,800 (95% CI [12,435, 17,127]) deaths were alcohol attributable, representing 5.5% of all deaths. This burden is borne disproportionately by men (79%). Among condition categories, cancer is the leading cause of alcohol-attributable mortality in both men and women. CONCLUSIONS: InterMAHP has the potential to assist public health researchers globally in estimating alcohol harms. This open-access software was used to estimate alcohol-attributable mortality in Canada, which was shown to be substantial. Policies proven to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms should be considered to reduce this burden.
OBJECTIVE: Data regarding alcohol-caused health harms are required by policymakers for setting health priorities. However, these estimations are currently resource intensive, and estimates vary substantially by method. Thus, many countries, states, and regions do not track these harms. We address this limitation through creation of the International Model of Alcohol Harms and Policies (InterMAHP), an open-access alcohol harms estimator. InterMAHP consists of methodologies and program software designed to assist alcohol research teams in estimating alcohol-attributable mortality and morbidity, by region. It is available at www.intermahp.cisur.ca. Application is illustrated through updated estimates of alcohol-attributable mortality in Canada. METHOD:Mortality counts and per capita alcohol sales were obtained from Statistics Canada. Drinking and bingeing prevalences were obtained from the Canadian Substance Use Exposure Database. InterMAHP automated the calculations of alcohol-attributable fractions (AAF) using the modern AAF formulation and a gamma distribution to specify the continuous prevalence distribution of consumption. RESULTS:Alcohol is a leading driver of mortality in Canada. In 2016, more than 14,800 (95% CI [12,435, 17,127]) deaths were alcohol attributable, representing 5.5% of all deaths. This burden is borne disproportionately by men (79%). Among condition categories, cancer is the leading cause of alcohol-attributable mortality in both men and women. CONCLUSIONS: InterMAHP has the potential to assist public health researchers globally in estimating alcohol harms. This open-access software was used to estimate alcohol-attributable mortality in Canada, which was shown to be substantial. Policies proven to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms should be considered to reduce this burden.
Authors: William Gilmore; Martyn Symons; Wenbin Liang; Kathryn Graham; Kypros Kypri; Peter Miller; Tanya Chikritzhs Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-12-10 Impact factor: 4.614