Alcohol industry sponsorship and hazardous drinking in UK university students who play sport

Abstract

Aim: To examine whether receipt of alcohol industry sponsorship is associated with problematic drinking in UK university students who play sport.Methods: University students (n=2450) participating in sports were invited to complete a pen-andpaper questionnaire by research staff approaching them at sporting facilities and in university settings. Respondents were asked whether they personally, their team, and/or their club were currently in receipt of sponsorship (e.g., money, free or subsidised travel, or sporting products), from an alcohol-related industry (e.g., bars, liquor stores, wholesalers), and whether they had solicited the sponsorship. Drinking was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).Results: Questionnaires were completed by 2048 of those approached (response rate=83%).Alcohol industry sponsorship was reported by 36% of the sample. After accounting for confounders (age, gender, disposable income, and location) in multivariable models, receipt of alcohol sponsorship by a team (adjusted βadj=.41, p=.013), club (βadj=.73, p=.017), team and club (βadj=.79, p=0.002), and combinations of individual and team or club sponsorships (βadj=1.27, p<0.002), were each associated with significantly higher AUDIT-Consumption substance scores.Receipt of sponsorship by team and club (aOR=2.04; 95% CI: 1.04-3.99) and combinations of individual and team or club sponsorships (aOR=4.12; 95% CI: 1.29-13.15) were each associated with increased odds of being classified a hazardous drinker (AUDIT score >8). Respondents who sought out sponsorship were not at greater risk than respondents who had, or whose teams or clubs had, been approached by the alcohol industry.Conclusions: University students in the United Kingdom who play sport and who personally receive alcohol industry sponsorship or whose club or team receives alcohol industry sponsorship appear to have more problematic drinking behaviour than UK university students who play sport and receive no alcohol industry sponsorship. Policy to reduce or cease such sponsorship should be considered.

Association Between Alcohol Sports Sponsorship and Consumption: A Systematic Review

“…Two of the studies reported findings from participants under the age of 18 and were conducted in a school-based setting (Davies, 2009; De Bruijn et al , 2012). Three studies recruited participants from university sports settings (O'Brien et al , 2011, 2014; Kelly et al , 2014), and two from community sports clubs and training grounds (O'Brien and Kypri, 2008; Kingsland et al , 2013). …”

“…Of the studies using adult participants, three measured alcohol consumption using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a screening tool devised by the World Health Organisation to detect early signs of hazardous and harmful drinking and identify mild dependence (O'Brien and Kypri, 2008; O'Brien et al , 2011, 2014). AUDIT scores of >8 are defined as indicating hazardous drinking (Babor et al , 2001).…”

“…Receipt of alcohol sponsorship by participants at the individual, team and/or club level was recorded in the five adult studies (O'Brien and Kypri, 2008; O'Brien et al , 2011, 2014; Kingsland et al , 2013; Kelly et al , 2014). Of the two studies using schoolchildren, general awareness of alcohol sports sponsorship was recorded by one (Davies, 2009) and exposure to alcohol sponsorship via viewing of major football tournaments known to be sponsored by alcohol companies was measured by the second (De Bruijn et al , 2012).…”

“…Authors of three studies (O'Brien and Kypri, 2008; O'Brien et al , 2011, 2014) justify their purposive sampling method both on the basis of resource capacity and to reduce the risk of bias from approaching clubs in receipt of alcohol sponsorship that may have been unwilling to allow access to the population of interest. The authors awarded priority to establishing sufficient heterogeneity in the exposure of interest for disaggregating results according to potential confounders, over obtaining a representative sample.…”

“…Although several studies controlled for known confounders such as age, gender, and age of intoxication debut (O'Brien and Kypri, 2008; O'Brien et al , 2011; Kelly et al , 2014) and disposable income (O'Brien et al , 2014), residual confounding may be possible as adjustments were not carried out with regards to ethnicity and peer use of alcohol (Moore et al , 2005; Patrick and Schulenberg, 2010). Two studies (Kingsland et al , 2013; O'Brien et al , 2014) accounted for reverse-association of heavy drinkers seeking out alcohol sponsorship. The review included one longitudinal study with one follow-up period, which also controlled for the above confounders plus smoking and education status.…”