Research finds minimum price for alcohol reduces health harms

Research from the University of Sheffield (UK), which shows that increasing alcohol prices could reduce illnesses, premature deaths and healthcare costs, will be published in The Lancet this week (24 March 2010). The findings are reported in an article published in Online First (www.thelancet.com) and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, written by Dr Robin Purshouse and colleagues from the University´s School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) and Department of Economics. The authors modelled the effects of alcohol pricing and promotion policy options for England. This included across-the-board price increases, policies setting a minimum price per unit (eg, a unit of alcohol, 10 mL ethanol, cannot be sold for less than £0-40) for various possible thresholds between £0.20 and £0.70, and policies restricting price-based promotions (eg, buy-one-get-one-free offers) in the off-licensed trade sector, from prohibiting large discounts only, through to a complete ban. A number of specific population subgroups of special interest to the UK Government were analysed; hazardous drinkers aged 18–24 years, harmful drinkers, and moderate drinkers. The researchers found that if a minimum cost of £0.50 per unit were introduced*, then 10 years after implementation there could be around 2,900 less premature deaths per year, as well as 41,000 fewer cases of chronic illness and 8,000 fewer injuries each year. This minimum unit price could also result in 92,000 fewer hospital admissions per year, and save the healthcare system in England £270 million each year.