Are restrictions in sales hours of alcohol associated with fewer emergency room visits in Lithuania? An interrupted time-series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

On 1 January 2018, an amendment to the alcohol control law was introduced in Lithuania which, among other changes, reduced trading hours for alcoholic beverages by 4 h for weekdays and Saturdays, and by 9 h for Sundays. The objective of the current study was to quantify the potential association of this law with the numbers and types of emergency room (ER) visits in Lithuania, in general and specifically for Sundays, for all ER visits, for injury-related ER visits and specifically for alcohol poisoning as a 100% alcohol-attributable cause.

Methods

Sex-stratified time-series analysis-based models for the period 2016-2019 were used to test for associations and for potential alternative explanations (e.g., the increase in minimum legal drinking age, which occurred

SUBMITTER: Jiang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9898194 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature