States that enact and implement strong alcohol policies - such as alcohol taxes, retail price restrictions, and hours of-sale regulations - have lower alcoholic cirrhosis death rates, according to researchers from Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston University School of Health, and Georgia State University.
Using the Alcohol Policy Scale (APS) score, which quantifies a state's alcohol policy environment, researchers found that a 10-point increase, or a stronger policy environment, was associated with a 9 percent decrease in alcoholic cirrhosis deaths among women. Examining mortality rates among non-American Indian/Alaska Native decedents indicated that a 10-point increase in APS score was associated with an 11 percent decrease in deaths among both sexes, a finding driven primarily by females, whose death rate decreased by 18 percent for a 10-point increase in APS score.
The association of strong alcohol policy environments with death rates in the overall population was driven primarily by the death rate among females. Alcohol policy environments may have a greater effect on excess alcohol consumption among females than among males, according to the study.
Researchers also noted significant regional variation in the relationship between alcohol policy environment and death rates, with the strongest association noted in the Northeast census region.
According to the report, these findings are consistent with the recent finding that stronger state alcohol policy environments in the United States are associated with decreased binge drinking prevalence. Coupled with data suggesting that alcohol consumption is tied to alcoholic cirrhosis deaths at the aggregate level, these study results are consistent with a potentially protective role for alcohol policies in reducing cirrhosis deaths.