Alcohol Consumption in BC

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Alcohol Consumption in BC

• Scott Macdonald, Jinhui Zhao,
• Basia Pakula and Tim Stockwell
• Centre for Addictions Research, University of
  Victoria

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Purpose

• To assemble a database that can be used for a
  variety of research purposes, such as to examine
  trends, differences between geographic regions,
  reasons for them and harms related to alcohol

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Advantages of aggregated data on consumption of
alcohol

• Most accurate reflection of actual alcohol
  consumption in populations (more accurate than
  population surveys)
• Most useful indicator to assess the impact of
  population level interventions
• Can be used to justify the allocation of programs
  and services

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Current procedures and limitations for provincial
reporting of alcohol sales data

• Statistics Canada estimates per adult absolute
  alcohol consumption every year for each province
• Crude conversion factors are used to estimate
  absolute alcohol consumption rather than exact
  conversions based on each product type
• Sales by U-brews are missing
• Sales from home brew, duty free sales and illegal
  sources (i.e., stills and illegal importation)
  are missing
• No breakdowns of differences within each province
  is available
• No seasonal effects reported

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Research questions in BC

• What are the trends in per adult consumption of
  alcohol for Canada and BC?
• What is the accuracy of estimates by Statistics
  Canada?
• What are the seasonal variations, differences by
  source of sales and across geographic regions of
  per adult alcohol consumption?
• Have there been major market shifts associated
  with privatization?
• How is per adult consumption related to selected
  demographic characteristics?

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Multiple Data Sources

• All recorded alcohol sales in litres of absolute
  alcohol from on and off premise outlets (Liquor
  Distribution Branch).
• U-Brew and U-Vint sales in litres was converted
  to absolute alcohol by 5 for beer and 12 for
  wine (Liquor Control and Licensing Branch)
• Weight of wine making grapes was converted to
  litres by the formula 65 pounds22.5 litres (BC
  Wine Grape Council)
• Home brew from kits is currently being estimated
  from a survey of sales by grocery stores
• Illegal seizures of alcohol for 3 month periods
  has been requested (Solicitor General)

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Methods for per adult consumption

• Alcohol sales data was converted to litres of
  absolute alcohol for each individual product and
  summed
• Per adult consumption was calculated by dividing
  the total absolute alcohol in each geographic
  region by the population aged 15 or older
• Sales data was obtained by municipalities and
  aggregated into Health Areas
• When municipalities included more than one Health
  Area, sales data was allocated based on the
  population proportions of each Health Area
• Sales data for the last 3 months of 2007 was
  estimated.

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Per adult absolute alcohol consumption in BC and
Canada, fiscal years 1997-2006
Source Statistics Canada estimates are based on
sales data by fiscal years 1997-2006. The BC
Pilot figures are by calendar years 2002-2005 and
are based on sales and U-brew/U-Vin data obtained
from the Liquor Distribution Branch. Home brew,
duty free sales and illegal sales not included in
all data.
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Underestimation effects

• Statistics Canada data (a) uses conservative
  conversion factors to translate consumption into
  absolute alcohol, and (b) excludes U-brew data
• Both data sources exclude home brew, duty free
  sales and illegal sales. True consumption is
  likely 10-15 higher than the BC figures

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Comparison of Statistics Canada conversion
factors to actual alcohol content by beverage
categories

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Per Capita Sale Alcohol in BC by Quarter,
2002-2007
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Percent Alcohol Consumed by Source BC in 2007
Missing is home made from beer and wine kits
(about 5) and illegal sales (lt1)
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Number of government and private liquor stores in
BC in 2002-05
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Per Adult Alcohol Sales from Government and
Private Liquor Stores in BC, 2002-2007
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Per adult alcohol sales from government and
private take out establishments in BC
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Factors related to alcohol consumption

• Based on population surveys, younger populations
  and those with a higher male to female ratio
  drink more alcohol

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Relationship between per adult consumption and
adult sex ratio for 28 regions
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Relationship between per adult alcohol
consumption and ratio of adult population aged
20-29
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Understanding Tourism The relationship between
the ratio of beer consumption (litres) for summer
vs. winter and the ratio of room revenue for
summer vs. winter at the regional districts in BC
in 2005
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Conclusion

• Alcohol consumption varies considerably across BC
  districts and is significantly related to the
  demographic composition of the districts (i.e.,
  age and sex distributions). Excess summer sales
  are largely due to tourism effects.

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Future directions

• Improve validity of measures by estimating
  tourism effects, home brew, duty free sales and
  illegal sales
• Assess relationships between alcohol consumption
  with mortality/morbidity and other harms
• Assess consumption of less expensive beverages
  (per litre of absolute alcohol) across districts
• Investigate impact of private outlets on alcohol
  consumption and problems
• Encourage Canadian partners to collect similar
  types of data in other provinces