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Objectives: This paper describes the design and implementation of an online survey experiment to investigate the effects of alcohol warning labels on alcohol‐related knowledge, risk perceptions and intentions. Method: The survey collected self‐reported data from 14 European countries through two waves of data collection with different recruitment strategies: dissemination via social media and public health agencies was followed by paid‐for Facebook ads. The latter strategy was adopted to achieve broader population representation. Post‐stratification weighting was used to match the sample to population demographics. Results: The survey received over 34,000 visits and resulted in a sample size of 19,601 participants with complete data on key sociodemographic characteristics. The responses in the first wave were over‐representing females and higher educated people, thus the dissemination was complemented by the paid‐for Facebook ads targeting more diverse populations but had higher attrition rate. Conclusion: Experiments can be integrated into general population surveys. Pan‐European results can be achieved with limited resources and a combination of sampling methods to compensate for different biases, and statistical adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Alcohol increases cancer risk, but less is known about public awareness of this link. This scoping review summarizes recent findings on the public awareness of alcohol as a cancer risk factor in European Union and UK. Methods Four databases (Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, CINAHL) were searched for papers containing data on awareness of alcohol as cancer risk factor in EU or UK published between January 2017 and December 2022, and complemented with grey literature searches. Results In total, 45 studies were included covering 18 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden) and UK, presenting data collected between 2009 and 2022. Studies covered general population (17 studied a nationally representative sample), women, health professionals, patients and young people. Awareness of alcohol causing cancer in general was higher and studied more often than awareness of alcohol's impact on specific cancers. Among the EU general population, awareness of the link between alcohol and breast cancer ranged between 10% and 20%, head and neck cancer 15–25%, colorectal and oesophagus cancer 15–45% and liver cancer 40%. Awareness was higher among young people and specialized health professions and lower among women (the latter specifically for the breast cancer). Conclusions While awareness rates varied depending on the exact question wording, many studies showed low awareness of the alcohol-cancer link, especially for specific types such as breast and colon cancer. Public should be better informed about alcohol consumption-related cancer risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Market research indicates an increasing interest in low‐ and no‐alcohol drinks in Europe, but there is no systematic overview of their availability and consumption. In this article, we present data on the availability and apparent consumption of non‐alcoholic beer in the European Union and the UK. Methods: We use Sold production, exports and imports by PRODCOM list (NACE Rev. 2) dataset, available in Eurostat, to extract the available data on sold production, exports and imports of non‐alcoholic beer in the EU‐27 (total and country‐level) and the UK between 2013 and 2019, and additionally calculate the apparent consumption. Results: Between 2013 and 2019, the sold production volume in the EU increased from 0.59 to 1.38 billion litres, the value from 0.42 to 1.28 billion EUR and value per litre from 0.72 to 0.93 EUR/L. In 2019, the share of non‐alcoholic beer represented 3.8% of all beer volume and 4.1% of all beer value produced. Five countries accounted for 80.8% of sold production volume: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Czechia. The Netherlands and Germany were the largest exporters, while importing was distributed more equally. Per capita, average apparent consumption (2017–2019) was highest in Czechia, followed by the Netherlands, Spain, Luxembourg and Germany. Discussion and Conclusions: Our results show the increasing availability of non‐alcoholic beer in the EU‐27, although overall changes seem to be driven by a small number of countries. More research is needed at the country‐level on no‐ and low‐alcohol consumption trends and drivers, and their impact on alcohol‐related harm reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: On 1 May 2018 Scotland introduced a minimum unit price (MUP) of GB50 pence per unit of alcohol (8 g) sold. We analysed household purchase data to assess the impact of MUP in shifting purchases from higher to lower strength beers. Methods: Data from Kantar Worldpanel's household shopping panel, with 75 376 households and 4.76 million alcohol purchases, 2015–2020. We undertook interrupted time series analyses of the impact of introducing MUP in Scotland on changes in the proportion of the volume of purchased beer with an alcohol by volume (ABV) ≤3.5% using purchases in England as control. We analysed the moderating impact of the volume of purchased beer with an ABV ≤3.5% on the size of the associated impact of MUP in reducing purchases of grams of alcohol within beer. Results: MUP was associated with a relative increase in the proportion of the volume of beer purchased with an ABV ≤3.5%, Scotland minus England, of 10.9% (95% CI 10.6–11.1), following a 43.6% (95% CI 40.1–47.1) increase in the volume of beer purchased with an ABV ≤3.5%, and a 9.6% (95% CI 9.4–9.8) decrease in the volume of beer purchased with an ABV >3.5%. MUP was associated with reduced purchases of grams of alcohol within beer by 8% (95% CI 7.8–8.3), increasing to 9.6% (95% CI 9.3–9.9), when accounting for the moderating impact of shifts to lower strength beer. Discussion and Conclusions: MUP seems an effective policy to reduce off‐trade purchases of alcohol and encourage shifts to lower strength beers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective interventions exist for heavy drinking and depression but to date there has been limited translation into routine practice in global health systems. This evidence-to-practice gap is particularly evident in low- and middle-income countries. The international SCALA project (Scale-up of Prevention and Management of Alcohol Use Disorders and Comorbid Depression in Latin America) sought to test the impact of multilevel implementation strategies on rates of primary health care-based measurement of alcohol consumption and identification of depression in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. To describe the process of development and cultural adaptation of the clinical intervention and training package. We drew on Barrero and Castro's four-stage cultural adaption model: 1) information gathering, 2) preliminary adaption, 3) preliminary adaption tests, and 4) adaption refinement. The Tailored Implementation in Chronic Diseases checklist helped us identify potential factors that could affect implementation, with local stakeholder groups established to support the tailoring process, as per the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Going to Scale Framework. In Stage 1, international best practice guidelines for preventing heavy drinking and depression, and intelligence on the local implementation context, were synthesised to provide an outline clinical intervention and training package. In Stage 2, feedback was gathered from local stakeholders and materials refined accordingly. These materials were piloted with local trainers in Stage 3, leading to further refinements including developing additional tools to support delivery in busy primary care settings. Stage 4 comprised further adaptions in response to real-world implementation, a period that coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, including translating the intervention and training package for online delivery, and higher priority for depression screening in the clinical pathway. Our experience highlights the importance of meaningful engagement with local communities, alongside the need for continuous tailoring and adaptation, and collaborative decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the popularity of direct-to-consumer genetic tests (DTC-GT) for disease-related purposes increased, concerns persist whether consumers make well-informed decisions about their purchase. To better target pre- and post-test information materials, this study aims to determine the characteristics of people interested in undergoing DTC-GT. In addition, it aims to determine changes in acceptability, consideration, intention, and uptake of DTC-GT since 2017. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in April 2022 with a representative sample of the Dutch adult population. Ordinal regression models and chi-squared tests were used to determine factors associated with DTC-GT acceptability, consideration and intention, and changes in outcomes since 2017, respectively. Of the 907 included respondents, 19.3% found DTC-GT acceptable, 29.4% considered taking a DTC-GT in the future, 6.2% intended to take a test within the coming year, and 0.9% had already tested. High education was associated with lower acceptability, consideration, intention, and higher awareness. Respondents with a chronic disease were less likely to find DTC-GT acceptable. Higher consideration was associated with having a partner, adopted/stepchildren, and lower age. Compared to 2017, in 2022 more respondents found DTC-GT totally unacceptable, while more considered testing, and fewer ruled out taking a test both in the next year and the future. Education status may play an important role in people's acceptability, consideration, intention, and awareness of disease-related DTC-GT in the Netherlands. Easy-to-understand public information materials should be promoted and guidance is needed to help with decision-making and result interpretation. Future research should focus on the best way to provide responsible guidance., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Genetic Counseling published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Society of Genetic Counselors.)

In its action plan (2022-2030) to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, WHO calls on economic operators to "substitute, whenever possible, higher-alcohol products with no-alcohol and lower-alcohol products in their overall product portfolios, with the goal of decreasing the overall levels of alcohol consumption in populations and consumer groups". This paper investigates substitution within beer brands at the level of the consumer, based on Spanish household purchase data using interrupted time series analysis. For households (n = 1791, 9.1% of all households) that newly bought at least one of eleven branded zero-alcohol beers (responsible for over three-quarters of all zero-alcohol beer purchased), the associated purchases of all grams of alcohol after the first purchase of zero-alcohol beer were reduced by 5.5%, largely due to substituting every one litre of higher strength beer (ABV > 3.5%) with 0.75 litres of same-branded zero-alcohol beer (ABV = 0.0%). For households (n = 337, 1.8% of all households) that had never previously purchased a same-branded higher-strength beer, but newly purchasing a same-branded zero-alcohol beer, the associated purchases of all grams of alcohol after the first purchase of zero-alcohol beer were reduced by 14%; this reduction was largely due to such households' decreasing their associated purchases of wines and spirits. Thus, at the level of the consumer, based on Spanish household purchase data of branded zero-alcohol beers, the evidence behind WHO's call for substitution appears to be substantiated.