These study furthers the understanding of the impacts of alcohol during different times throughout the week, which can guide targeted policy responses regarding alcohol use and health service capacity planning.
The trends found in this study provide some indication that the typical hours of alcohol-related harm vary by demographics, particularly within age groups (e.g., 7:00 p.m. to 7:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights for those aged from 18 to 24 years).

Author

Coomber, Kerri (E-mail: k.coomber@deakin.edu.au), Peter G. Miller, Jessica J. Killian, Rowan P. Ogeil, Naomi Beard, Dan I. Lubman, Ryan Baldwin, Karen Smith, and Debbie Scott

Citation

Coomber K, Miller PG, Killian JJ, Ogeil RP, Beard N, Lubman DI, Baldwin R, Smith K, Scott D. Description of Trends over the Week in Alcohol-Related Ambulance Attendance Data. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(8):5583. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085583

Source
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2023
Release date
19/04/2023

Description of Trends over the Week in Alcohol-Related Ambulance Attendance Data 

Research article

Abstract

Alcohol harms are often determined using a proxy measure based on temporal patterns during the week when harms are most likely to occur.

This study utilised coded Australian ambulance data from the Victorian arm of the National Ambulance Surveillance System (NASS) to investigate temporal patterns across the week for alcohol-related ambulance attendances in 2019.

These patterns were examined by season, regionality, gender, and age group.

The researchers found clear temporal peaks:

  • from Friday 6:00 p.m. to Saturday 3:59 a.m. for both alcohol-involved and alcohol-intoxication-related attendance,
  • from Saturday 6:00 p.m. to Sunday 4:59 a.m. for alcohol-involved attendances, and
  • from Saturday 5:00 p.m. to Sunday 4:49 a.m. for alcohol-intoxication-related attendances.

However, these temporal trends varied across age groups.

Additionally, hours during Thursday and Sunday evenings also demonstrated peaks in attendances.

There were no substantive differences between genders.

Younger age groups (18–24 and 25–29 years) had a peak of alcohol-related attendances from 7:00 p.m. to 7:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, whereas the peak in attendances for 50–59 and 60+ years was from 5:00 p.m. to 2:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

These findings further the understanding of the impacts of alcohol during different times throughout the week, which can guide targeted policy responses regarding alcohol use and health service capacity planning.

Conclusions

The researchers aimed to explore temporal patterns across the week of alcohol-related ambulance attendances in Victoria, Australia. Although the data broadly demonstrated similar peak times for alcohol-related harms to HAH*, as defined in the literature, there was some variability in these temporal trends, particularly when investigating different age groups.

*high-alcohol hours (HAH; hours during which harms from alcohol use peak)

The trends found in this study provide some indication that the typical hours of alcohol-related harm vary by demographics, particularly within age groups (e.g., 7:00 p.m. to 7:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights for those aged from 18 to 24 years).

Additionally, consideration of other weeknights (Thursday and Sunday) as representing times during which there may be moderate alcohol-related attendance peaks could be warranted.

However, temporal patterns by season, regionality, and gender did not markedly differ to that of previously defined HAH. This stability in trends demonstrates that the continued use of an HAH proxy to measure alcohol-related harms could be a feasible approach to capture alcohol-related harms, where alcohol use is not reliably measured.

While not a direct examination of HAH, this study indicated that temporal peaks over the week in alcohol-related attendance data may not be static across demographic groups. Therefore, more research is needed to determine if adaptive HAH models would provide greater sensitivity for capturing harms. These findings also further the understanding of the impacts of alcohol during different times throughout the week, which can guide targeted policy responses regarding alcohol use and health service capacity planning.

Source Website: MDPI