PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Alcohol use has been identified as a major risk factor for the global burden of death, disease and
injury. Given the high levels of overall volume of alcohol use, detrimental drinking patterns, and high
levels of alcohol-attributable mortality and burden of disease, Lithuania recently implemented three of
the most effective alcohol control policies within a short time span: increase in taxation, reduction of
availability of alcoholic beverages, and a ban on advertisement. For the first time ever, the
implementation of these three best practices in alcohol control policy allows for an evaluation of their
combined effect on total amount of alcohol consumed, as well as alcohol-attributable hospitalizations,
deaths and violence in the subpopulations targeted by these policies. It also allows for a
comprehensive economic evaluation of the return on investment – that is, a comparison of the cost of
implementation and the economic benefits due to a reduction in alcohol-attributable hospitalizations,
deaths and violence – which has never been done before. Accordingly, the proposed study intends
to measure the effectiveness and economic gains of the interventions implemented in Lithuania, and
to compare Lithuania to two other Baltic countries (Estonia and Latvia) to ensure that any changes
observed within the country were not part of any regional trends that were independent of the
interventions. The proposed study will use a mix of different quantitative and qualitative methods,
based on high-quality data. Not only is this the first time that the three most effective alcohol control
policies have been implemented almost simultaneously, but, given the characteristics of Lithuania,
the effects of such interventions can be generalized to other high-income countries, such as the
United States. What we learn from the proposed study will inform and enhance our ability to prevent
alcohol-attributable deaths, diseases and injuries in the United States, including but not limited to the
so-called deaths of despair (i.e., liver cirrhosis, suicide and poisoning). The proposed proposal
involves a number of decision-makers and alcohol policy stakeholders, who will be intricately involved
in the interpretation, publishing and publicizing the findings.
