@article{ref1,
title="Diverging trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in Victoria",
journal="Australian and New Zealand journal of public health",
year="2010",
author="Livingston, Michael and Matthews, Sharon and Barratt, Monica J. and Lloyd, Belinda and Room, Robin G. W.",
volume="34",
number="4",
pages="368-373",
abstract="Objective: To examine recent trends in alcohol-related harm and risky drinking in Victoria, Australia. Methods: The study compiled eight measures of alcohol-related harm from published and unpublished sources, covering data relating to health, crime, alcohol treatment and traffic crashes for the financial years 1999/2000 to 2007/08.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. Results: 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. Conclusions: 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. Implications: The sharply increasing rates of alcohol-related harm among Victorians suggest that changes to alcohol policies focusing on improving public health are necessary.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1326-0200",
doi="10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00568.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00568.x"
}