Erik Loewen Friesen1,2,3, Emiliyan Staykov4,5, Daniel Thomas Myran6,7. 1. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, Ontario, Canada. erik.friesen@mail.utoronto.ca. 2. Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. erik.friesen@mail.utoronto.ca. 3. Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. erik.friesen@mail.utoronto.ca. 4. Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 5. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 6. Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 7. Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: In 2015, Ontario partially deregulated alcohol sales by allowing grocery stores to sell alcohol. The purpose of this study was to evaluate (1) whether neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status (SES) impacted the likelihood that a grocery store began selling alcohol, and (2) whether increases in alcohol retail availability following deregulation differed between neighbourhoods based on SES. METHODS: This was a repeated cross-sectional analysis of 1062 grocery stores in 17,096 neighbourhoods in urban Ontario. The association between neighbourhood-level SES and whether a grocery store began selling alcohol was modeled using mixed effect logistic regression. The annual change in drive-distance from a neighbourhood to the closest off-premise alcohol outlet between 2015 and 2020 was modeled using mixed effect linear regression. An interaction between time and SES was included to evaluate whether this change differed between neighbourhoods based on SES. RESULTS: Grocery stores in neighbourhoods in the lowest SES quintile were 39% less likely to start selling alcohol than grocery stores in neighbourhoods in the highest SES quintile (odds ratio (OR): 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.39-0.94). As grocery store sales expanded, the distance to the closest off-premise alcohol outlet decreased by 51.8 m annually (95% CI: 48.8-54.9, p < 0.01). A significant interaction between year and SES was observed whereby this trend was more pronounced in high- versus low-SES neighbourhoods. CONCLUSION: The expansion of grocery store alcohol sales increased alcohol availability, but this increase was proportionately larger in high- versus low-SES neighbourhoods. This reduced historic disparities in alcohol availability between low- and high-SES neighbourhoods.
OBJECTIVES: In 2015, Ontario partially deregulated alcohol sales by allowing grocery stores to sell alcohol. The purpose of this study was to evaluate (1) whether neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status (SES) impacted the likelihood that a grocery store began selling alcohol, and (2) whether increases in alcohol retail availability following deregulation differed between neighbourhoods based on SES. METHODS: This was a repeated cross-sectional analysis of 1062 grocery stores in 17,096 neighbourhoods in urban Ontario. The association between neighbourhood-level SES and whether a grocery store began selling alcohol was modeled using mixed effect logistic regression. The annual change in drive-distance from a neighbourhood to the closest off-premise alcohol outlet between 2015 and 2020 was modeled using mixed effect linear regression. An interaction between time and SES was included to evaluate whether this change differed between neighbourhoods based on SES. RESULTS: Grocery stores in neighbourhoods in the lowest SES quintile were 39% less likely to start selling alcohol than grocery stores in neighbourhoods in the highest SES quintile (odds ratio (OR): 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.39-0.94). As grocery store sales expanded, the distance to the closest off-premise alcohol outlet decreased by 51.8 m annually (95% CI: 48.8-54.9, p < 0.01). A significant interaction between year and SES was observed whereby this trend was more pronounced in high- versus low-SES neighbourhoods. CONCLUSION: The expansion of grocery store alcohol sales increased alcohol availability, but this increase was proportionately larger in high- versus low-SES neighbourhoods. This reduced historic disparities in alcohol availability between low- and high-SES neighbourhoods.
Authors: Carla Alexia Campbell; Robert A Hahn; Randy Elder; Robert Brewer; Sajal Chattopadhyay; Jonathan Fielding; Timothy S Naimi; Traci Toomey; Briana Lawrence; Jennifer Cook Middleton Journal: Am J Prev Med Date: 2009-12 Impact factor: 5.043
Authors: Daniel T Myran; Jarvis T Chen; Benjamin Bearnot; Michael Ip; Norman Giesbrecht; Vaughan W Rees Journal: Am J Public Health Date: 2019-04-18 Impact factor: 9.308