Dataset Information

Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects.

ABSTRACT:

Issues

The last Soviet anti-alcohol campaign of 1985 resulted in considerably reduced alcohol consumption and saved thousands of lives. But once the campaign's policies were abandoned and the Soviet alcohol monopoly broken up, a steep rise in mortality was observed in many of the newly formed successor countries, although some kept their monopolies. Almost 30?years after the campaign's end, the region faces diverse challenges in relation to alcohol.

Approach

The present narrative review sheds light on recent drinking trends and alcohol policy developments in the 15 Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, highlighting the most important setbacks, achievements and best practices. Vignettes of alcohol control policies in Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Uzbekistan are presented to illustrate the recent developments.

Key findings

Over the past decade, drinking levels have declined in almost all FSU countries, paralleled by the introduction of various alcohol-control measures. The so-called three 'best buys' put forward by the World Health Organization to reduce alcohol-attributable burden (taxation and other measures to increase price, restrictions on alcohol availability and marketing) are relatively well implemented across the countries.

Implications

In recent years, evidence-based alcohol policies have been actively implemented as a response to the enormous alcohol-attributable burden in many of the countries, although there is big variance across and within different jurisdictions.

Conclusion

Strong declines in alcohol consumption were observed in the 15 FSU countries, which have introduced various alcohol control measures in recent years, resulting in a reduction of alcohol consumption in the World Health Organization European region overall.

SUBMITTER: Neufeld M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7936953 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects.

Neufeld Maria M Bobrova Anastacia A Davletov Kairat K Štelemėkas Mindaugas M Stoppel Relika R Ferreira-Borges Carina C Breda João J Rehm Jürgen J

Drug and alcohol review 20201105 3

<h4>Issues</h4>The last Soviet anti-alcohol campaign of 1985 resulted in considerably reduced alcohol consumption and saved thousands of lives. But once the campaign's policies were abandoned and the Soviet alcohol monopoly broken up, a steep rise in mortality was observed in many of the newly formed successor countries, although some kept their monopolies. Almost 30 years after the campaign's end, the region faces diverse challenges in relation to alcohol.<h4>Approach</h4>The present narrative ...[more]

PMID: 33155370

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Project description:Germany is a country known for immigration. In 2015, 21% of the general population in Germany consisted of individuals with a migration background. This article focuses on cancer-specific incidence and mortality among one of the biggest migrant groups in Germany: the resettlers. Resettlers are ethnic Germans who mainly immigrated from the Russian federation and other countries of the former Soviet Union after its collapse in 1989. We investigated differences between resettlers and the general German population, regarding (i) incidence and mortality of malignant neoplasms, (ii) time trends of the corresponding incidence and mortality, and (iii) cancer stage at diagnosis. We provide data from two resettler cohorts covering an observation time of 20 years: one cohort on cancer incidence (N = 32,972), and another cohort on mortality (N = 59,390). Cancer-specific standardized incidence ratios (SIR) and standardized mortality ratios (SMR) for all malignant neoplasms combined and the most common cancer-sites were calculated between resettlers and the general German population. Time trend analyses using Poisson regression were performed to investigate the developments of SIRs and SMRs. To investigate differences in stage at diagnosis, logistic regression was performed, calculating Odds Ratios for condensed cancer stages. We observed higher incidence and mortality of stomach cancer [SIR (men) 1.62, 95%CI 1.17-2.19; SMR (men) 1.62, 95%CI 1.31-2.01; SIR (women) 1.32, 95%CI 0.86-1.94; SMR (women) 1.52, 95%CI 1.19-1.93] and higher mortality of lung cancer [SMR (men) 1.34, 95%CI 1.20-1.50] among resettlers compared to the general German population, but lower incidence and mortality of colorectal (both sexes), lung (women), prostate and female breast cancer. However, time trend analyses showed converging incidence risks of cause-specific incidence over time, whereas differences of mortality did not show changes over time. Results from logistic regression suggest that resettler men were more often diagnosed with advanced cancer stages compared to the Münster population. Our findings suggest that risk factor patterns of the most common cancer-sites among resettlers are similar to those observed within the Russian population. Such increases in prostate, colorectal and breast cancer incidence may be the consequence of improved detection measures, and/or the adaptation of resettlers to the German lifestyle.

Dataset Information

Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects.

Issues

Approach

Key findings

Implications

Conclusion

Publications

Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects.

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