Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria.
Aust N Z J Public Health. 2010 Aug;34(4):368-73. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00568.x.
To examine recent trends in alcohol-related harm and risky drinking in Victoria, Australia.
The study compiled eight measures of alcohol-related harm from published and unpublished sources, covering data relating to health, crime, alcohol treatment and traffic crashes for the financial years 1999/2000 to 2007/08. In addition, published estimates of short and long-term risky drinking from three-sets of surveys between 2001 and 2007 were examined.
Six of the eight harm indicators substantially increased, while only alcohol-related mortality and single-vehicle night-time crashes remained relatively stable. In particular, rates of emergency presentations for intoxication and alcohol-related ambulance attendances increased dramatically. Contrastingly, survey-derived estimates of the rate of risky-drinking among Victorians were stable over the time-period examined.
Evidence across the data examined suggests significant increases in alcohol-related harm taking place during a period of relatively stable alcohol consumption levels. This disparity may be accounted for by changing drinking patterns among small, high-risk, subgroups of the population.
The sharply increasing rates of alcohol-related harm among Victorians suggest that changes to alcohol policies focusing on improving public health are necessary.
研究澳大利亚维多利亚州近期与酒精相关的伤害和危险饮酒趋势。
本研究从已发表和未发表的资料中编制了八项与酒精相关的伤害指标，涵盖了 1999/2000 财政年度至 2007/08 财政年度的健康、犯罪、酒精治疗和交通事故数据。此外，还对 2001 年至 2007 年三组调查中发表的短期和长期危险饮酒的估计数进行了审查。
八项伤害指标中有六项有显著增加，而与酒精相关的死亡率和单辆夜间车辆碰撞则相对稳定。特别是，因醉酒而急诊和因酒精相关而接受救护车护理的比例急剧增加。相反，调查得出的维多利亚州危险饮酒率估计数在研究期间保持稳定。
在所审查的数据中，有证据表明，在酒精消费水平相对稳定的时期，与酒精相关的伤害显著增加。这种差异可能是由于人口中小部分高风险群体的饮酒模式发生了变化。
维多利亚州危险饮酒率急剧上升表明，需要对以改善公共健康为重点的酒精政策进行改革。
