An article examined the circumstances in which older people drank; the meaning that drinking alcohol had for them; and the impact of alcohol on their lives. More research was needed to understand the social, cultural, and economic contexts of older people's drinking behaviour.
Source: Lizzie Ward, Marian Barnes, and Beatrice Gahagan, 'Alcohol use in later life – older people's perspectives', Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Volume 12 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
A report examined the tactics used by junk food manufacturers to promote their products to children while they were playing online.
Source: The 21st Century Gingerbread House: How companies are marketing junk food to children online, British Heart Foundation/Children?s Food Campaign
Links: Report | BHF press release | SFT press release | Sustrans press release
Date: 2011-Dec
A report examined parental alcohol misuse and its effects on children and families. Thousands of children living with parents with drink problems were at risk of depression, anxiety, and increased anger.
Source: Bottling It Up: The Next Generation – The effects of parental alcohol misuse on children and families, Turning Point
Links: Report | Turning Point press release
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the effect of long working hours on mental health. It concluded that there was evidence that working long hours was a risk factor for the development of depressive and anxiety symptoms in women.
Source: Marianna Virtanen, Jane Ferrie, Archana Singh-Manoux, Martin Shipley, Stephen Stansfeld, Michael Marmot, Kirsi Ahola, Jussi Vahtera, and Mika Kivimaki, 'Long working hours and symptoms of anxiety and depression: a 5-year follow-up of the Whitehall II study', Psychological Medicine, Volume 41, Issue 12
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Nov
A paper examined whether employees who worked more hours than they wanted to suffered adverse health consequences, based on data for Germany and the United Kingdom. Work-hour 'mismatches' had negative effects on workers' health. In particular, 'overemployment' – working more hours than desired – had negative effects on different measures of self-perceived health.
Source: David Bell, Steffen Otterbach, and Alfonso Sousa-Poza, Work Hours Constraints and Health, Discussion Paper 6126, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Nov
An article examined excess cardiovascular and cancer mortality in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland compared with England. Around 4,000 deaths could be prevented every year if the Scots, Welsh, and Northern Irish adopted the average diet eaten in England.
Source: Peter Scarborough, Robert David Morgan, Premila Webster, and Mike Rayner, 'Differences in coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer mortality rates between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: the role of diet and nutrition', British Medical Journal Open, Volume 1, Issue 1
Links: Article | Oxford University press release
Date: 2011-Nov
An article said that smoking cost the National Health Service in England £2.7 billion in 2006 – 5 per cent of total adult hospital admission costs. The 2006 cost was estimated to be 13 per cent lower than if smoking had remained at 1996 levels.
Source: Christine Callum, Sean Boyle, and Amanda Sandford, ' Estimating the cost of smoking to the NHS in England and the impact of declining prevalence', Health Economics, Policy and Law, Volume 6 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Oct
A report examined 'risky drinkers' – people who regularly drank over the recommended limits, but who were neither binge drinkers nor dependent drinkers. Risky drinkers were likely to be causing harm to their health, even if they were not aware of it. Brief interventions had been shown to reduce risky drinking.
Source: Eleanor Winpenny, Gail Beer, and Julia Manning, From One To Many: The risks of frequent excessive drinking, 2020health
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Oct
A paper examined the impact of age on work-related self-reported health outcomes in Europe. Those aged 55-65 were more 'vulnerable' than younger workers. They were more likely to: perceive work-related health and safety risks; report mental, physical, and fatigue health problems; and report work-related absence.
Source: Melanie Jones, Paul Latreille, Peter Sloane, and Anita Staneva, Work-Related Health in Europe: Are older workers more at risk?, Discussion Paper 6044, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Oct
A longitudinal study examined the links between work, permanent sickness, and mortality risk in England and Wales over the period 1971-2006. Working people had the lowest risk of premature death. Relative to working people, the permanently sick continued to have mortalities around 3 times higher among men and 4-5 times higher among women.
Source: Bola Akinwale, Kevin Lynch, Richard Wiggins, Seeromanie Harding, Mel Bartley, and David Blane, 'Work, permanent sickness and mortality risk: a prospective cohort study of England and Wales, 1971-2006', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 65 Number 9
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Sep
A study of over 15,000 children found that parenting style was one of the most important and statistically reliable influences on whether a child would drink responsibly in adolescence and adulthood. 'Tough love' parenting, combining consistent warmth and discipline, was the most effective parenting style to prevent unhealthy relationships with alcohol right into the mid-thirties age range.
Source: Jamie Bartlett, Matt Grist, and Bryanna Hahn, Under the Influence, Demos
Links: Report | Demos press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Sep
A report examined the issue of women and occupational diseases in the European Union.
Source: Daniela Tieves, Women and Occupational Diseases in the European Union, European Trade Union Institute
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jul
A paper used data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey to examine the determinants of employee job anxiety and work-related psychological illness. Job anxiety was found to be strongly related to the demands of the job as measured by factors such as occupation, education, and hours of work. Average levels of employee job anxiety, in turn, were positively associated with work-related psychological illness among the workforce as reported by managers. Work-related psychological illness was found to be negatively associated with several measures of workplace performance.
Source: Melanie Jones, Paul Latreille, and Peter Sloane, Job Anxiety, Work-Related Psychological Illness and Workplace Performance, Discussion Paper 5809, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jul
A report said that at least 1 million healthy life years were lost every year from traffic-related noise in the western part of Europe.
Source: Frank Theakston (ed.), Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise: Quantification of healthy life years lost in Europe, World Health Organisation (Regional Office for Europe)
Date: 2011-Jul
A study found higher alcohol-related hospital admissions in areas with higher rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection. Services that aimed to address teenage conception should include alcohol consumption in young men as well as young women, since alcohol misuse in both sexes independently predicted teenage pregnancy and sexual infections.
Source: Penny Cook, Corinne Harkins, Michela Morleo, Ian Jarman, Claire Tiffany, Mark Bellis, Xin Zhang, Clare Perkins, and Penelope Phillips-Howard, Contributions of Alcohol Use to Teenage Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates, Centre for Public Health (Liverpool John Moores University)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
A report said that inadequate housing accounted for over 100,000 deaths per year in Europe, and caused or contributed to many preventable diseases and injuries.
Source: Matthias Braubach, David Jacobs, and David Ormandy (eds.), Environmental Burden of Disease Associated with Inadequate Housing: A method guide to the quantification of health effects of selected housing risks in the WHO European Region, World Health Organisation (Regional Office for Europe)
Links: Report | WHO press release
Date: 2011-Jun
A report said that alcohol appeared to be a key factor in Northern Ireland's higher suicide rates, including among mental health patients, compared with England and Wales.
Source: Louis Appleby, Nav Kapur, Jenny Shaw, Isabelle Hunt, Sandra Flynn, David While, Kirsten Windfuhr, Alyson Williams, and Mohammad Rahman, Suicide and Homicide in Northern Ireland, National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (University of Manchester)
Links: Report | Summary | Manchester University press release | RCPsych press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined the health impacts of private car use, the activities of the 'car lobby', and factors underpinning car dependence. Private cars caused significant health harm. The car lobby resisted measures that would restrict car use, using tactics similar to the tobacco industry. But car ownership and use had greatly increased in recent decades and there was little public support for measures that would reduce this.
Source: Margaret Douglas, Stephen Watkins, Dermot Gorman, and Martin Higgins, 'Are cars the new tobacco?', Journal of Public Health, Volume 33 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
A study found that family and friends had a strong influence on teenagers' drinking patterns, and were stronger influences than some other factors – such as individual well-being, celebrity figures, and the media.
Source: Pamela Bremner, Jamie Burnett, Fay Nunney, Mohammed Ravat, and Willm Mistral, Young People, Alcohol and Influences: A study of young people and their relationship with alcohol, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Findings | JRF press release | Ipsos MORI press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jun
A report said that the National Health Service needed to do more to tackle the growing problem of drug and alcohol misuse among older people.
Source: Our Invisible Addicts, Report CR165, Royal College of Psychiatrists
Links: Report | RCPsych press release | DH press release | Addaction press release | Age UK press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Jun
A paper said that there were 'vast gaps' in research on alcohol policies in Europe.
Source: Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl, Comparing European Alcohol Policies: What to compare?, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (Vienna)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jun
A new book examined the dangers of alcohol consumption at a young age. It said that young people should not consume any alcohol until they reached the age of 24, when the brain had fully developed.
Source: Aric Sigman, Alcohol Nation: How to protect our children from today's drinking culture, Piatkus Books
Links: Summary | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Jun
A study examined the links between young people's inter-ethnic friendships and their drinking patterns and behaviours.
Source: Anthony Goodman, Rachel Hurcombe, Jane Healy, Sue Goodman, and Emma Ball, Teenage Drinking and Interethnic Friendships, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2011-May
An article examined social inequalities in adult alcohol-related mortality in England and Wales. The mortality rate of men in the 'routine' class was 3.5 times those of men in higher and managerial occupations, while for women the corresponding figure was 5.7 times.
Source: Veronique Siegler, Alaa Al-Hamad, Brian Johnson, Claudia Wells, and Nick Sheron, 'Social inequalities in alcohol-related adult mortality by National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification, England and Wales, 2001-03', Health Statistics Quarterly 50, Summer 2011, Office for National Statistics
Links: Article | ONS press release
Date: 2011-May
A think-tank report examined the lives of people who worked at night. Regular night working exposed people to a range of dangers and risks, and affected their social and family lives.
Source: Will Norman, Rough Nights: The growing dangers of working at night, Young Foundation
Links: Report
Date: 2011-May
A briefing paper examined tobacco use among black and minority-ethnic populations. Although smoking rates had decreased by 7 per cent among the general population since 1998, this pattern had not been reflected among BME communities. BME groups were also more likely to use tobacco products, such as shisha and smokeless tobacco, that might be associated with poorer compliance with (and enforcement of) regulations on labelling and packaging.
Source: Deborah Millward and Saffron Karlsen, Tobacco Use Among Minority Ethnic Populations and Cessation Interventions, Better Health Briefing 22, Race Equality Foundation
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-May
A report reviewed the evidence on the direct and indirect health impacts suffered by those living in fuel poverty and cold housing. 21.5 per cent of 'excess winter deaths' – equivalent to around 5,500 – were due to people living in the coldest quarter of housing.
Source: Ilaria Geddes, Ellen Bloomer, Jessica Allen, and Peter Goldblatt, The Health Impacts of Cold Homes and Fuel Poverty, Friends of the Earth/Marmot Review Team
Links: Report | Friends of the Earth press release | Citizens Advice press release | RCP press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-May
An article examined the burden of cancer attributable to existing and former alcohol consumption in 8 European countries including the United Kingdom. An important proportion of cases of cancer could be attributable to alcohol consumption, especially consumption higher than the recommended upper limits.
Source: Madlen Schutze et al., 'Alcohol attributable burden of incidence of cancer in eight European countries based on results from prospective cohort study', British Medical Journal, 7 April 2011
Links: Article | Abstract | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Apr
A think-tank report examined the causes of, and possible responses to, binge drinking among young adults aged 18-25. Any response to binge drinking should be realistic, targeted, and have three aims: to reduce the frequency and intensity of binge-drinking episodes and associated behaviours; to reduce costs that stemmed from binge drinking; and to encourage a more responsible attitude toward alcohol consumption over the long term.
Source: Jamie Bartlett and Matt Grist, Under the Influence: What we know about binge-drinking, Demos
Date: 2011-Apr
A report said that poor housing cost the National Health Service in Wales around £67 million per year.
Source: Maggie Davidson, Simon Nicol, Mike Roys, and Adele Beaumont, The Cost of Poor Housing in Wales, Shelter Cymru and Building Research Establishment (BRE) Trust
Links: Summary | Shelter press release
Date: 2011-Apr
A study found evidence suggesting that there was a weak negative association between obesity and educational attainment in children and young people. But obesity was also associated with other variables, such as socio-economic status; and when these were taken into consideration, the association between obesity and attainment became still weaker, and often lost statistical significance.
Source: Jenny Caird et al., Childhood Obesity and Educational Attainment: A systematic review, Report 1901, EPPI-Centre (Institute of Education/University of London)
Date: 2011-Mar
A study estimated that the cost of excessive alcohol consumption to the Welsh National Health Service was between £69.9 million and £73.3 million; and that the cost of obesity was around £73 million..
Source: Ceri Phillips, Christie Harper, Jaynie Rance, and Angela Farr, Assessing the Costs to the NHS Associated with Alcohol and Obesity in Wales, Welsh Assembly Government
Links: Report | WAG press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Mar
A report examined evidence on the relationship between obesity and mental health. There were bi-directional associations between mental health problems and obesity, with levels of obesity, gender, age, and socio-economic status being key risk factors. The mental health of women was more closely affected by overweight and obesity than that of men.
Source: Mary Gatineau and Monica Dent, Obesity and Mental Health, National Obesity Observatory
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Mar
A briefing paper examined issues associated with the measurement of alcohol use by young people.
Source: Gareth Hagger-Johnson, Alcohol Use in Youth, Survey Resources Network
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Feb
A new book examined the social aspects of health, illness, and healthcare. It included chapters on: gender; social class; ethnicity; ageing; physical ill-health; mental health and illness; disability; death and dying; families, communities, and healthcare; and healthcare organizations and professions.
Source: Mary Larkin, Social Aspects of Health, Illness and Healthcare, Open University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined whether emergency hospital admission rates for common paediatric conditions were associated with measures of child well-being and deprivation. Housing and environmental factors were found to be associated with children's demand for hospital admission for breathing difficulty. The local index of child well-being (CWI) had the potential to identify priority primary care trusts for housing and environment interventions that could have specific public health benefits for respiratory conditions.
Source: Richard Kyle et al., 'Childhood disadvantage and emergency admission rates for common presentations in London: an exploratory analysis', Archives of Disease in Childhood, Volume 96 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
The European Commission published an evaluation of the 2004 social partners agreement on work-related stress: it concluded that the agreement had had positive effects where it had been implemented.
Source: Report on the Implementation of the European Social Partners' Framework Agreement on Work-Related Stress, European Commission
Links: Report | European Commission press release
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined drinking patterns among minority-ethnic groups (based on literature from the previous 15 years), and considered the evidence for service provision and support. Drinking remained low among minority-ethnic groups, though with evidence of increases in consumption, particularly among Indian women and Chinese men.
Source: Mariana Bayley and Rachel Hurcombe, 'Drinking patterns and alcohol service provision for different ethnic groups in the UK: a review of the literature', Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, Volume 3 Number 4
Date: 2011-Feb
An article said that smoking accounted for 40-60 per cent of the difference in mortality between men and women in European countries.
Source: Gerry McCartney, Lamia Mahmood, Alastair Leyland, David Batty, and Kate Hunt, 'Contribution of smoking-related and alcohol-related deaths to the gender gap in mortality: evidence from 30 European countries', Tobacco Control, Volume 20 Number 2
Links: Abstract | European Commission press release
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined the association between childhood physical/sexual abuse and illicit drug use in later life. There was 'tentative support' for some degree of association. The authors highlighted the difficulties involved in drawing conclusions due to the complex and multifaceted nature of drug use, and the variability in the quality of the research available in this area.
Source: Sophia Butt, Shihning Chou, and Kevin Browne, 'A rapid systematic review on the association between childhood physical and sexual abuse and illicit drug use among males', Child Abuse Review, Volume 20 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan
A briefing paper summarized the outcome of five research projects aimed at understanding how family and friendship groups influenced young people's drinking cultures. It examined the implications for policy and practice interventions that aimed to reduce alcohol-related harm among young people.
Source: Arun Sondhi and Claire Turner, The Influence of Family and Friends on Young People's Drinking, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Briefing
Date: 2011-Jan
An article examined possible links between economic insecurity and obesity, based on a comparison between 'market-liberal' countries (including the United Kingdom) and seven affluent European countries with strong social protection systems. Countries with market-liberal welfare regimes (which were also English-speaking) tended to have the highest prevalence of obesity.
Source: Avner Offer, Rachel Pechey, and Stanley Ulijaszek, 'Obesity under affluence varies by welfare regimes: the effect of fast food, insecurity, and inequality', Economics & Human Biology, Volume 8 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan
