Comparative Analysis of Alcohol Control Policies in 30 Countries

Using an index that gauges the strength of national alcohol policies, a clear inverse relationship was found between policy strength and alcohol consumption

Alcohol Policy Scores of the 30 Countries Included in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

<p>Alcohol Policy Scores of the 30 Countries Included in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development</p

Point Breakdown of Alcohol Policy Scores by Regulatory Domain

<p>Bar lengths indicate points credited to countries for alcohol control policies in each of five regulatory domains (physical availability of alcohol, drinking context, alcohol prices, alcohol advertising, and motor vehicles). –, zero points in a given domain. Points do not always add up to overall scores due to rounding errors. Numbers in parentheses indicate the full point value of each domain. Median scores within each domain and the overall median appear beneath the bars.</p

Score versus Alcohol Consumption

<p>Scatter plot shows the relationship between alcohol policy score and annual per capita alcohol consumption. The regression line has a slope of −0.10 (<i>p</i> = 0.001), signifying a decrease in consumption of 1 l absolute alcohol for each 10-point increase in the score (95% CI 0.4–1.5 l). Arcs show 95% confidence limits. See <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0040151#s4" target="_blank">Discussion</a> for comments about the three identified countries.</p