Socioeconomic position and alcohol-related harm in Danish adolescents

All cause and cause specific mortality in 15-24-year-olds in Denmark 2010 to 2022: nationwide study of socioeconomic predictors

Objective

To assess inequalities in all cause and cause specific mortality in young people and if there are differences across gender and age groups.

Design

Nationwide cohort study of socioeconomic predictors.

Setting

Denmark, 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2022.

Participants

All Danes of ages 15 to 24 years during the study period summing to a total of 9 314 807 person years and 2297 deaths. Participant and parental information were linked to obtain information on socioeconomic background to investigate differences in parents' educational level, employment status, and family's disposable income, using annually updated nationwide registers.

Main outcome measures

All cause and cause specific mortality including natural deaths (ie, medical conditions and diseases) and unnatural deaths (accidents, suicides, and homicides). Poisson regression was used to calculate incidence rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results

Overall mortality rate was 24.7 (95% CI 23.7 to 25.7) and higher for men (33.2 (31.5 to 34.8)) compared with women (15.8 (14.6 to 16.9)). All cause and cause specific mortality were higher in financially disadvantaged groups compared with more affluent groups, and consistently so for all three measures of socioeconomic position. Results generally reflected a dose dependent association showing a higher mortality with lower levels of socioeconomic position. For instance, incidence rate ratios of all cause mortality related to parents' education was 2.3 (95% CI 2.0 to 2.7) for elementary level, 1.5 (1.3 to 1.6) for low, and 1.3 (1.1 to 1.4) for medium level as compared with high level. For deaths, incidence rate ratios of elementary education level compared with the most well educated group were 2.2 (1.5 to 3.2) for natural causes, 3.3 (2.5 to 4.4) for accidents, 1.6 (1.2 to 2.2) for suicides, and 3.1 (0.8 to 12) for homicides. Associations were similar in strata of men and women and by age group (15-17 v 18-24 years). Mortality in young men was considerably higher than in young women for all of the causes.

Conclusion

Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have a markedly higher mortality from all causes than those from more affluent families. The socioeconomic position of their parents was associated with premature mortality in a dose dependent manner meaning that this effect is not only a concern for marginalised groups. Public health attention should be directed to respond to these inequities by strengthening advocacy for adolescent health, ensuring focus on adolescents in health policies and strategies, using the response to adolescent health as an indicator of equity, and prioritising research into the underlying mechanisms linking socioeconomic position in adolescence and mortality.

Adolescent Hazardous Drinking and Socioeconomic Status in France: Insights Into the Alcohol Harm Paradox

PURPOSE

The "alcohol harm paradox" has been evidenced among adults, but it is still largely unexplored among adolescents. We examined in a sample of French adolescents the relation between family socioeconomic status (SES), family living arrangement and parental substance use on 1 hand, and heavy episodic drinking (HED), lifetime alcohol-induced emergency room visits (A-ERV), and number of alcoholic drinks and solitary drinking during the last episode on the other hand.

METHODS

A cross-sectional nationwide survey in March 2017 involved 13,314 French adolescents aged 17-18.5 years. They completed a pen and paper questionnaire about their own and their parents' alcohol and tobacco consumption. We used risk ratios (RRs) from modified Poisson regressions to assess the relationships.

RESULTS

Adolescents from the lowest SES had reduced likelihood of reporting 1-2 or 3-5 episodes of heavy drinking compared to those from the highest SES (RR = 0.58, 95% confidence interval = [0.50; 0.66] and 0.35 [0.27; 0.45]), but no difference for six or more episodes (RR = 0.81 [0.59; 1.12]). A-ERV was more frequent among lowest SES adolescents (RR = 1.86 [1.05; 3.30]), possibly due to drinking larger quantities of alcohol and to more frequent solitary drinking in their last episode (p < .001). SES, parental substance use, and family living arrangement were independently associated with HED.

DISCUSSION

Our findings reveal an "alcohol harm paradox" in late adolescence in France. Lower SES adolescents exhibit reduced HED but were more likely to consume large quantities alone and experience A-ERV. This emphasizes the significance of considering social determinants in alcohol-related research and interventions.

Socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol-related harm in adolescents: a prospective cohort study of 68,299 Danish 15-19-year-olds

Background

Evidence shows that similar levels of alcohol consumption lead to greater harm in adults with low socioeconomic position (SEP) compared to high SEP. We investigated if SEP is associated with alcohol-related hospital contacts in adolescents, and whether differences in risk can be explained by differences in levels of alcohol consumption, drinking pattern, and substance use.

Methods

This is a prospective cohort study of 68,299 participants aged 15-19 years old from the Danish National Youth Cohort 2014. SEP was operationalised as parent educational level, family income and perceived financial strain in the family. Data were linked to national registers and participants were followed up for five years from 2014 to 2019. Outcomes were hospital contacts due to alcohol. Multilevel Poisson regression was used to estimate incidence rates (IR) and incidence rate ratios (IRR).

Findings

During 280,010 person years of follow-up, 872 participants had an alcohol-attributable hospital contact; intoxications (n = 778, 89%) were the most common diagnosis. Low as compared to high SEP was associated with higher IRR of alcohol-attributable hospital contacts for all three SEP measures. The adjusted IRR of harm was 1.73 (95% CI: 1.29-2.33) for elementary school as the highest parent education compared to longer parent education and 1.57 (95% CI: 1.30-1.89) for family financial strain compared to those without financial strain. Adjustment for weekly alcohol intake, drinking pattern and substance use did not substantially change results. Cubic spline analysis of the association between family income and alcohol-attributable hospital contacts revealed a dose-response relationship with decreasing risk of alcohol-related harm with higher income.

Interpretation

Our findings suggested that alcohol-related harm is more common in socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents despite similar levels of alcohol consumption, regardless of differences in drinking pattern or substance use. Future preventive strategies should prioritise young adolescents, including those who are most disadvantaged.

Funding

Tryg Foundation (ID: 153539).

Alcohol-related mortality in 15–24-year-olds in Denmark (2010–2019): a nationwide exploratory study of circumstances and socioeconomic predictors

Background

Adolescents and young adults aged 15-24 years are disproportionately affected by unnatural deaths, including accidents, suicide and interpersonal violence for which alcohol is a leading risk factor. We aimed to explore the extent of and circumstances surrounding alcohol-related deaths in young people aged 15-24 years and whether socioeconomic background and ethnicity differ in those who died due to alcohol-related causes as compared to the background population.

Methods

All deaths of 15-24-year-olds occurring in Denmark from 2010 to 2019 were investigated. We manually reviewed death certificates containing information on circumstances, results from autopsies and blood tests, and statements from witnesses. Relevant information published in the media (most often newspaper articles) was included. Our main outcome measures were alcohol-related death and manner of death (accidents (transport accidents, drownings, falls, poisonings), suicide and violence). Further, we designed a population-based case-control study including 10 age- and sex-matched controls per case to test whether there was a socioeconomic gradient in alcohol-related deaths. We used parents' educational level and employment status to define socioeconomic position. Immigration status was used to assess ethnicity.

Findings

Over the 10-year period, 1783 deaths occurred among 15-24-year-olds. Of those, 1067 (60%) were due to unnatural causes, corresponding to a mortality rate of 14.8 (95% confidence interval: 13.9-15.7) per 100,000. Twelve percent of unnatural deaths (n = 125) were alcohol related, corresponding to a rate of 1.7 (1.4-2.0) per 100,000, and were higher in males (2.9 [2.3-3.4]) than in females (0.6 [0.3-0.8]); thus, males accounted for 105 (84%) of alcohol-related deaths. The majority of alcohol-related deaths occurred on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (n = 77, 62%). Accidents accounted for 82% (n = 102) of alcohol-related deaths, followed by suicide (n = 19, 15%) and interpersonal violence (n = 4, 3%). Of all fatal accidents, 102 of 636 (16%) were alcohol related. Of all deaths caused by drownings and falls, 14 of 26 (54%) and 10 of 25 (40%), respectively, were alcohol related. Alcohol-related drownings most often occurred while the deceased was alone, whereas alcohol-related falls most often occurred in relation to parties, involving falls from a window or balcony. Those who died from alcohol-related causes more often had parents with a short education or who were unemployed, as compared to the general population. For example, odds ratios were 3.9 (2.2-7.0) and 1.8 (1.2-2.9) for having parents with short and medium as compared to long educations. The odds ratio for being of Danish origin was 4.0 (1.7-9.5) compared to being first- or second-generation immigrants.

Interpretation

In 15-24-year-olds, alcohol-related deaths accounted for a substantial proportion of all unnatural deaths. There was substantial socioeconomic inequality in alcohol-related deaths, as has repeatedly been shown for chronic alcohol-related mortality in older adults.

Funding

Trygfonden.

Alcohol norms and alcohol intake among high school students

AIMS

To analyse whether parental alcohol norms were associated with the alcohol intake of high school students and whether this association persisted across different levels of alcohol intake in school and trustful communication with parents.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study among 70,544 high school students (mean age 18 years) participating in the Danish National Youth Study 2014. We examined the associations between parental alcohol norms and individual alcohol intake as the number of drinks at the most recent school party and the frequency of binge drinking in the last 30 days using negative binomial regression. We then performed joint analyses of parental alcohol norms and alcohol intake at school level, and parental alcohol norms and trustful communication with parents.

RESULTS

The mean intake of alcohol at the most recent school party was 9.9 units of alcohol for boys and 7.6 units of alcohol for girls. A total of 36.2% of boys and 24.7% of girls were binge drinking frequently (more than four occasions in the last month). Lenient parental alcohol norms and a low level of trustful communication with parents were associated with a higher intake at the most recent school party and with the frequency of binge drinking. Joint analyses showed that these associations persisted across different levels of school level alcohol intake and levels of trustful communication with parents.

CONCLUSIONS

Among high school students, parental alcohol norms were strongly associated with alcohol intake and consistently so across different levels of school level alcohol intake and level of trustful communication with parents. This indicates that the role of parents in preventing excessive drinking is important, even in older adolescents.

Causal mechanisms proposed for the alcohol harm paradox-a systematic review

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The alcohol harm paradox (AHP) posits that disadvantaged groups suffer from higher rates of alcohol-related harm compared with advantaged groups, despite reporting similar or lower levels of consumption on average. The causes of this relationship remain unclear. This study aimed to identify explanations proposed for the AHP. Secondary aims were to review the existing evidence for those explanations and investigate whether authors linked explanations to one another.

METHODS

This was a systematic review. We searched MEDLINE (1946-January 2021), EMBASE (1974-January 2021) and PsycINFO (1967-January 2021), supplemented with manual searching of grey literature. Included papers either explored the causes of the AHP or investigated the relationship between alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm and socio-economic position. Papers were set in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development high-income countries. Explanations extracted for analysis could be evidenced in the empirical results or suggested by researchers in their narrative. Inductive thematic analysis was applied to group explanations.

RESULTS

Seventy-nine papers met the inclusion criteria and initial coding revealed that these papers contained 41 distinct explanations for the AHP. Following inductive thematic analysis, these explanations were grouped into 16 themes within six broad domains: individual, life-style, contextual, disadvantage, upstream and artefactual. Explanations related to risk behaviours, which fitted within the life-style domain, were the most frequently proposed (n = 51) and analysed (n = 21).

CONCLUSIONS

While there are many potential explanations for the alcohol harm paradox, most research focuses on risk behaviours while other explanations lack empirical testing.

Risk Pathways Contributing to the Alcohol Harm Paradox: Socioeconomic Deprivation Confers Susceptibility to Alcohol Dependence via Greater Exposure to Aversive Experience, Internalizing Symptoms and Drinking to Cope

Socioeconomic deprivation is associated with greater alcohol problems despite lower alcohol consumption, but the mechanisms underpinning this alcohol harm paradox remain obscure. Fragmented published evidence collectively supports a multistage causal risk pathway wherein socioeconomic deprivation increases the probability of exposure to aversive experience, which promotes internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety), which promotes drinking alcohol to cope with negative affect, which in turn accelerates the transition from alcohol use to dependence. To evaluate this proposed risk pathway, 219 hazardous drinkers from an undergraduate population completed questionnaires assessing these constructs in a single, cross sectional, online survey. Partial correlation coefficients revealed that each variable showed the strongest unique association with the next variable in the proposed multistage model, when adjusting for the other variables. Bootstrapped serial mediation analysis revealed that the indirect pathway linking all the variables in the proposed serial order was significant, while all other permutations were non-significant. Network centrality analysis corroborated the serial order of this indirect path. Finally, risk ratios estimated by categorizing the variables suggested that socioeconomic deprivation increased the risk of aversive experience by 32%, which increased the risk of internalizing symptoms by 180%, which increased the risk of drinking to cope by 64%, which increased susceptibility to alcohol dependence by 59%. These preliminary findings need to be corroborated by future research, nevertheless, they call for prevention strategies founded on social justice and the minimization of aversive experience in socially deprived individuals to mitigate mental health problems, maladaptive coping and addiction.

Students in Danger: Binge Drinking Behaviour and Associated Factors in Hungary

Introduction

Among young adults, high rates of binge drinking were observed in certain European countries. Binge drinking is associated with several health problems (unplanned pregnancy, HIV infections, problems with memory, and injuries). The aim of this questionnaire-based study was to measure the frequency of binge drinking and its association with sociodemographic, familial, lifestyle factors and school performance among secondary and university students (n=2449) in Csongrád County, Hungary.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study the students’ sociodemographic data, parents’ educational and economic level, and students’ academic performance and self-reported use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol were collected by a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were applied using SPSS 24.0 software.

Results

Altogether 2449 Hungarian secondary school students and university students participated in the study. Nearly one-third of the students were classified as binge drinkers, significantly more male university students. Tobacco or illicit drug use resulted in higher odds of being a binge drinker in both subgroups. Poor school performance and binge drinking were significantly correlated especially among secondary school students.

Conclusions

Targeting alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use together, including education, parent interventions, and public health policies, are crucial in the prevention of possible serious consequences.

'High schools High on life': Development of an Intervention to Reduce Excessive Drinking in Danish High Schools

Background: Clear documentation of the understanding of the problem, process of development, and content of interventions is essential to enable other researchers to understand why interventions succeed or fail and to enable researcher to build on previous evidence and replicate and adapt findings in other contexts. In this paper we describe the rationale, intervention development, and final design of the 'High schools High on life' intervention; a high school-based, multi-component intervention to reduce excessive drinking among Danish high school students. Methods: The development of the intervention 'High schools High on life' was guided by the planning steps of the Intervention Mapping protocol (IM) in combination with the behavior change wheel and the behavior change techniques, theory, evidence, practice, and new empirical studies of contextual factors in the Danish high school setting. Results: The development process resulted in a multi-component intervention with the following intervention elements: a school environmental component targeting school alcohol policies and norms, a school educational component addressing students' social norms around alcohol, and a parental component encouraging parent-child communication around alcohol. Discussion: Not all steps of IM were followed rigidly. However, IM proved useful as a planning tool in combination with the behavior change wheel and the behavior change techniques, as it provided a systematic approach to the intervention development process. IM forced the research group to be explicit about decisions and choices throughout the planning process. The transparency of the developmental process and theoretical, empirical and practical/contextual foundation of the 'High schools High on life' intervention may enable future intervention studies to build on our findings and accumulate knowledge to reduce excessive drinking among young people. Trial registration: The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (Trial registration number NCT03906500) prior to randomization.