TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - The effect on emergency department visits of raised alcohol minimum prices in Saskatchewan, Canada
JO  - Drug and alcohol review
A1  - Sherk, Adam
A1  - Stockwell, Tim
A1  - Callaghan, Russell C.
SP  - S357
EP  - S365
VL  - 37
IS  - Suppl 1
N2  - INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: The province of Saskatchewan, Canada introduced minimum prices graded by alcohol strength in April 2010. As previous research found this intervention significantly decreased alcohol consumption and alcohol-attributable morbidity, we aim to test the association between the intervention and the rate of emergency department (ED) visits in four alcohol-related injury categories [motor vehicle collisions (MVC), assaults, falls and total alcohol-related injuries]. DESIGN AND METHODS: Data on ED visits in the city of Regina were obtained from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health. Auto-regressive integrated moving average time series models were used to test the immediate and lagged effects of the pricing intervention on rates of alcohol-related nighttime. ED visits and controlled for daytime rates of ED visits, economic variables, linear and seasonal trends, and auto-regressive and moving average effects. <br><br>RESULTS: The implementation of an alcohol minimum pricing strategy in Saskatchewan was associated with decreased MVC-related ED visits for women aged 26 and over after a 6 month lag period (-39.4%, P < 0.001). There was no significant abrupt effect of this intervention on ED visits of four injury types in any of four gender-age categories; however, rates of ED visits among young males for MVCs and assaults decreased substantially during this study. <br><br>DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The minimum pricing policy change led to a lagged decrease in motor vehicle-collision-related ED visits for women older than 25. Of note, there did not appear to be an instantaneous effect on the rate of alcohol-related injury ED visits immediately after the policy implementation nor lagged effects for other gender-age groups.<br><br>© 2018 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0959-5236
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dar.12670
ID  - ref1
ER  -