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Future research into the issue of falling prevalence rates of youth drinking should focus on possible explanatory factors at the population level rather than at the individual level.

Background While there are reviews reporting on the prevalence of acute use of alcohol (AUA) prior to suicide attempts, no review has used a meta-analytic approach to estimate common odds ratios (OR) of the effect of AUA on suicide attempts. We aim to report the results of the first meta-analysis of controlled epidemiological studies on acute alcohol use and suicide attempt. Methods The English language literature on Medline, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, and public-use databases was searched for original articles and critical review reports on acute alcohol use and suicide attempt for the period ranging from 1996–2015. Studies had to report an OR estimate for this association. Common odds ratios and 95% Confidence Intervals (95%CI) from random effects in meta-analyses for any acute alcohol use and 2 levels of alcohol use on suicide attempt were calculated. Results We gathered 7 studies that provided OR estimates for the likelihood of suicide attempt by acute alcohol use, compared to those who did not drink alcohol. Studies used case-control (3) and case-crossover design (4). All studies found increased ORs for acute alcohol use on suicide attempt. Meta-analysis revealed a common OR of 6.97 (95%CI=4.77, 10.17) for any acute alcohol use. Evidence from 4 studies suggests that «low levels of acute drinking» resulted in an OR of 2.71 (95%CI=1.56, 4.71) and «high levels» had much greater odds of suicide attempt, OR of 37.18 (95%CI=17.38, 79.53). Conclusions Acute use of alcohol is associated with increased likelihood of a suicide attempt, particularly at high doses. Such data should be incorporated into estimates of the burden of disease associated with alcohol use, which are currently limited by a consideration of only alcohol’s chronic effects. Future research should focus on the mechanisms through which acute use of alcohol confers risk for attempt.

AimsTo evaluate evidence of the capacity for causal inference in studies of associations between parental and offspring alcohol consumption in the general population.MethodsA systematic search for, and narrative analysis of, prospective cohort studies of the consequences of drinking, except where assessed prenatally only, or with clinically derived instruments. Primary outcome measures were alcohol use or related problems in offspring, which were collected at least 3 years after exposure measures of parental drinking. The systematic review included 21 studies comprising 26 354 families or parent–child dyads with quantitative effect measures available for each study. Criteria for capacity of causal inference included (1) theory‐driven approach and analysis; (2) analytical rigour; and (3) minimization of sources of bias.ResultsFour of the 21 included studies filled several, but not all, criteria and were assessed to have some capacity for causal inference. These four studies found some evidence that parental drinking predicted drinking behaviour in adolescent offspring. The remaining 17 studies had little or no such capacity.ConclusionsThere is a fairly large and consistent literature demonstrating that more parental drinking is associated with more drinking in offspring. Despite this, existing evidence is insufficient to warrant causal inferences at this stage.

The substantial co-variation between suicide attempts and drug overdose suggests some common underlying causal factors. These seem to be related to heavy drug use and poor social integration.

The findings support the hypothesis that homicide rates are influenced by alcohol sales and more so in the northern European countries where the drinking culture is, to a larger extent, characterized by heavy drinking episodes. Moreover, the findings are suggestive of beverage-specific effects on violent behaviour being contingent upon characteristics of the drinking culture.

AimsTo estimate the effect on violence of small changes in closing hours for on-premise alcohol sales, and to assess whether a possible effect is symmetrical.Design, setting, and participantsA quasi-experimental design drawing on data from 18 Norwegian cities that have changed (extended or restricted) the closing hours for on-premise alcohol sales. All changes were ≤ 2 hours.MeasurementsClosing hours were measured in terms of the latest permitted hour of on-premise trading, ranging from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. The outcome measure comprised police-reported assaults that occurred in the city centre between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. at weekends. Assaults outside the city centre during the same time window should not be affected by changes in closing hours but function as a proxy for potential confounders, and was thus included as a control variable. The data spanned the period Q1 2000–Q3 2010, yielding 774 observations.FindingsOutcomes from main analyses suggested that each 1-hour extension of closing hours was associated with a statistically significant increase of 4.8 assaults (95% CI 2.60, 6.99) per 100 000 inhabitants per quarter (i.e. an increase of about 16%). Findings indicate that the effect is symmetrical. These findings were consistent across three different modelling techniques.ConclusionIn Norway, each additional 1-hour extension to the opening times of premises selling alcohol is associated with a 16% increase in violent crime.

Introduction and AimsThere is a growing interest in measuring alcohol's harms to people other than the drinker themselves. ‘Children of alcoholics’ and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder have received widespread attention. Less is known about how children are affected by post‐natal exposure to parental drinking other than alcohol abuse/dependence. In this scoping review, we aim to assemble and map existing evidence from cohort studies on the consequences of parental alcohol use for children, and to identify limitations and gaps in this literature.Design and MethodsSystematic review methods were used. Electronic databases were searched (1980 to October 2013) and a total of 3215 abstracts were screened, 326 full text papers examined and 99 eligible for inclusion according to selection criteria including separation of exposure and outcome measurement in time and report of a quantitative effect size.ResultsThe main finding is the large literature available. Adolescent drinking behaviour was the most common outcome measure and outcomes other than substance use were rarely analysed. In almost two of every three published associations, parental drinking was found to be statistically significantly associated with a child harm outcome measure. Several limitations in the literature are noted regarding its potential to address a possible causal role of parental drinking in children's adverse outcomes.Discussion and ConclusionsThis study identifies targets for further study and provides a platform for more targeted analytic investigations which ascertain risk of bias, and which are capable of considering the appropriateness of causal inferences for the observed associations. [Rossow I, Felix L, Keating P, McCambridge J. Parental drinking and adverse outcomes in children: A scoping review of cohort studies. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:397–405]