The effect of a minimum price per unit of alcohol in Scotland on alcohol-related ambulance call-outs: A controlled interrupted time−series analysis (original) (raw)

Manca, Francesco, Lewsey, Jim ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3811-8165, Mackay, Daniel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5381-7098, Angus, Colin, Fitzpatrick, David and Fitzgerald, Niamh(2024) The effect of a minimum price per unit of alcohol in Scotland on alcohol-related ambulance call-outs: A controlled interrupted time−series analysis.Addiction, 119(5), pp. 846-854. (doi: 10.1111/add.16436) (PMID:38286951)

Abstract

Background and aims: On 1 May 2018, Scotland introduced a minimum unit price (MUP) of £0.50 for alcohol, with one UK unit of alcohol being 10 ml of pure ethanol. This study measured the association between MUP and changes in the volume of alcohol-related ambulance call-outs in the overall population and in call-outs subsets (night-time call-outs and subpopulations with higher incidence of alcohol-related harm). Design: An interrupted time−series (ITS) was used to measure variations in the daily volume of alcohol-related call-outs. We performed uncontrolled ITS on both the intervention and control group and a controlled ITS built on the difference between the two series. Data were from electronic patient clinical records from the Scottish Ambulance Service. Setting and cases: Alcohol-related ambulance call-outs (intervention group) and total ambulance call-outs for people aged under 13 years (control group) in Scotland, from December 2017 to March 2020. Measurements: Call-outs were deemed alcohol-related if ambulance clinicians indicated that alcohol was a ‘contributing factor’ in the call-out and/or a validated Scottish Ambulance Service algorithm determined that the call-out was alcohol-related. Findings: No statistically significant association in the volume of call-outs was found in both the uncontrolled series [step change = 0.062, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.012, 0.0135 P = 0.091; slope change = −0.001, 95% CI = −0.001, 0.1 × 10−3 P = 0.139] and controlled series (step change = −0.01, 95% CI = −0.317, 0.298 P = 0.951; slope change = −0.003, 95% CI = −0.008, 0.002 P = 0.257). Similarly, no significant changes were found for the night-time series or for any population subgroups. Conclusions: There appears to be no statistically significant association between the introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland and the volume of alcohol-related ambulance call-outs. This was observed overall, across subpopulations and at night-time.

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Funder and Project Information

MUP Evaluation

James Lewsey

110508_CSO_HIPS/18/57 IMP

SHW - Public Health

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