School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2012 Jun;31(4):370-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2011.00375.x. Epub 2011 Nov 3.
Alcohol has consistently been demonstrated to increase levels of aggression and violence, particularly in late night licensed venues. Since August 2003, Ballarat (a regional city of approximately 95,000 inhabitants, in Victoria, Australia) has implemented a 3:00 AM 'lockout' with the goal of reducing alcohol-related harms. This paper is the first long-term analysis of the effect of this type of intervention on emergency department (ED) attendances. The aim of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a lockout intervention within the city of Ballarat, Victoria on alcohol-related ED presentations.
This paper examines alcohol-related injury frequencies pre- to post-lockout intervention in Ballarat, Victoria, from 1999 to 2009, as indicated by ED International Classification of Diseases codes for acute alcohol intoxication and assault. These data are further compared with similar data from Geelong, Victoria, as a control.
A small reduction in alcohol-related assaults and intoxication rates within Ballarat occurred before and after the introduction of the lockout. However, after this decline these rates steadily increased, surpassing Geelong by 2005.
There is no discernible long-term impact on alcohol-related ED attendances of the lockout intervention in Ballarat. As such, other interventions may be more appropriate to reduce alcohol-related ED attendances.
酒精已被证明会增加攻击性行为和暴力行为的发生率，特别是在深夜有执照的场所。自 2003 年 8 月以来，澳大利亚维多利亚州的巴拉瑞特（一个拥有约 95000 居民的地区城市）实施了凌晨 3 点的“宵禁”，目的是减少与酒精相关的伤害。本文是首次对这种干预类型对急诊部（ED）就诊量的长期影响进行分析。本文旨在检验维多利亚州巴拉瑞特市实施宵禁干预对与酒精相关的 ED 就诊的效果。
本文通过 ED 国际疾病分类编码，检查了 1999 年至 2009 年期间维多利亚州巴拉瑞特市实施宵禁前后，与酒精相关的伤害频率，这些编码用于急性酒精中毒和攻击的诊断。这些数据与维多利亚州吉朗市的类似数据进行了进一步比较，作为对照组。
宵禁实施前后，巴拉瑞特市与酒精相关的攻击和中毒率略有下降。然而，在此下降之后，这些比率稳步上升，到 2005 年超过了吉朗市。
宵禁干预对巴拉瑞特市与酒精相关的 ED 就诊量没有明显的长期影响。因此，可能需要采取其他干预措施来减少与酒精相关的 ED 就诊量。
