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. 2018 Jun 4;18(1):688.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5581-8.

Awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer is associated with public support for alcohol policies

Sarah Bates  1 , John Holmes  1 , Lucy Gavens  1 , Elena Gomes de Matos  2 , Jessica Li  3 , Bernadette Ward  4 , Lucie Hooper  5 , Simon Dixon  1 , Penny Buykx  6
Affiliations

Awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer is associated with public support for alcohol policies

Sarah Bates et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Globally, alcohol is causally related to 2.5 million deaths per year and 12.5% of these are due to cancer. Previous research has indicated that public awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer is low and this may contribute to a lack of public support for alcohol policies. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between awareness of the alcohol-cancer link and support for a range of alcohol policies in an English sample and policy context.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 2100 adult residents in England was conducted in which respondents answered questions regarding awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer and support for 21 policy proposals. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the 21 policy proposals down to a set of underlying factors. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to estimate the relationship between awareness of the alcohol-cancer link and each of these policy factors.

Results: Thirteen per cent of the sample were aware of the alcohol-cancer link unprompted, a further 34% were aware when prompted and 53% were not aware of the link. PCA reduced the policy items to four policy factors, which were named price and availability, marketing and information, harm reduction and drink driving. Awareness of the alcohol-cancer link unprompted was associated with increased support for each of four underlying policy factors: price and availability (Beta: 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.10), marketing and information (Beta: 0.05, 95% CI: 0.00, 0.09), harm reduction (Beta: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.14), and drink driving (Beta: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.20).

Conclusions: Support for alcohol policies is greater among individuals who are aware of the link between alcohol and cancer. At the same time, a large proportion of people are unaware of the alcohol-cancer link and so increasing awareness may be an effective approach to increasing support for alcohol policies.

Keywords: Alcohol; Cancer; Policy; Support.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This project was approved by the ScHARR ethics committee, University of Sheffield (project ID: 03670). A market research company (Vision One) invited existing panel members to participate in the study. If they selected the link to the survey, they were directed to an information page about the study and provided consent by selecting the link to begin the survey.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of participants that support/oppose alcohol policies
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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