Price of beer and violence-related injury in England and Wales

Objectives: Relationships between violence-related injury and potential risk factors in England and Wales were investigated over a five-year period, 1st May 1995 to 30th April 2000. Methods: Records from all 10 economic regions of England and Wales relating to price of alcohol, youth real income, wealth, ethnic density, dates of major sporting events and seasonality were studied with reference to violent injury data derived from 58 Emergency Departments (EDs) over the same period. Panel estimation and multi-level modelling was used to evaluate associations between variables. Results: Overall, 353,443 violence-related A&E attendances were identified over the five-year period. High regional violence-related injury rates correlated with low real price of alcohol as measured by price of beer. Rates of violence were higher during summer months and on days of major sporting events. Conclusions: Risk of injury in violence was closely linked to alcohol price. Beer price rises should therefore reduce violent injury. Injury reduction efforts should be intensified during the summer and on days of major sports events.