The spatial epidemiology of alcohol availability, consumption and harm

酒精滥用作为健康和社会问题的一个重要来源，一直是英国主要的公共卫生问题之一。许多研究试图确定、限定和量化导致或助长酒精滥用及其对健康的影响的因素（社会经济、文化）。尽管如此，其中许多因素的影响程度仍未完全了解。最近的研究推断，酒精销售点密度高与酒精相关事件（如饮酒、死亡、酒后驾驶、暴力）之间存在关联。其他研究探讨了酒精供应（密度或接近度）的趋势、与地理区域匮乏的关系或与酒精相关的住院情况。然而，这些关系的影响的量化和它们之间的因果关系尚未建立，特别是在英国，量身定制的建议（考虑到出口类型和人口特征）限制酒精供应密度可以为制定更有效的酒精政策提供信息。该项目旨在了解英国地理酒精供应对公共卫生的影响，并探索其与消费和滥用行为的关系。我们建议调查危害与消费之间的空间关系，特别是描述造成危害和问题消费的人口统计与渠道之间关系的空间方面。该项目旨在提高政策制定（在限制酒精供应方面）的有效性，并为受酒精滥用影响的许多公共服务机构（国民保健服务、紧急服务、地方议会、警察和社区团体）开展的工作提供支持。

Alcohol misuse has been one of the major public health concerns in the UK as a significant source of health and social problems. Much research has tried to identify, qualify, and quantify the factors (socio-economic, cultural) that lead to or foster alcohol misuse and their impact on health. Nonetheless, the extent of the impact of many of these factors is still not fully understood. Recent research infers on the existence of an association between high density of alcohol outlets and alcohol related incidents (e.g. alcohol consumption, mortality, driving under the influence, violence). Other studies have addressed the trends in alcohol availability (density or proximity), associations with geographical areas of deprivation, or with alcohol related hospital admissions. However, the quantification of the impact of these relations and a causality link between them has yet to be established, particularly in the UK, where tailored recommendations (considering outlet type and demographic characteristics) of limit densities of alcohol availability could inform the development of more effective alcohol policies. This project proposes to understand the public health impact of geographical alcohol availability in the UK and to explore its associations to behaviours of consumption and misuse. We propose to investigate the spatial relationship between harm and consumption, and in particular, to characterise the spatial aspects of the relationship between demographics and outlets that are responsible for harm and problematic consumption.The project aims to increase the effectiveness of policy making (with regards to limiting alcohol availability) and to feed into the work undertaken by many public services affected by alcohol misuse (NHS, emergency services, local councils, police, and community groups).