2017 Annual Meeting
September 12–14, 2017
Aurora, Colorado
The links below contained detailed information for the upcoming 2017 Safe States Alliance Annual Meeting, taking place September 12-14, 2017 in Aurora, Colorado.
Please note:
- A total of five concurrent sessions will take place during the Annual Meeting, and there will be up to five breakouts occurring simultaneously during each of those concurrent sessions. Within each breakout, there will be up to four presentations that take place.
- This online system does not allow us to embed the individual presentations within each breakout. Please note the session presentations listed under each Concurrent Breakout title for associated content.
- The on-site mobile app WILL embed these sessions for ease of use.
- A printable, detailed agenda can be found on the 2017 Annual Meeting website.
- If you have any questions, please contact info@safestates.org
- All session times and locations are tentative and subject to change. Safe States will continue to update these details as changes take place.
Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density in Durham, North Carolina
Learning Objectives
In this session, participants will:
- Demonstrate methods for measuring alcohol outlet density; discuss challenges faced and lessons learned in translating cluster definitions built for a large city to a small city
- Discuss the local, historical and policy realities for interpreting clusters for policy makers
- Describe the partnerships between the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch within the NC Division of Public Health, the NC Institute for Public Health, and community partners working in alcohol-related injury prevention
Statement of Purpose
Excessive alcohol use is responsible for 88,000 deaths in the U.S. annually and can put individuals at risk for many harmful health outcomes including chronic conditions, motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and violence. Scientific evidence has shown that high alcohol outlet density is an environmental risk factor for excessive alcohol use. With hopes of helping to inform policy decisions, we measured alcohol outlet density in Durham, North Carolina, a city which has seen significant growth over the last decade.
Methods/Approach
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in 2015 assesses alcohol outlet density and its impact on violent crime in Atlanta, Georgia. The results of this study serve as a guide for measuring alcohol outlet density exposure in order to identify high density clusters of 50 or more on-premise alcohol retailers within 0.10 mile buffer from each other. The study also assessed exposure to retail alcohol outlets and potentially causally-related outcomes like violent crime. Our team attempted to apply the same methods for exposure assessment, however the previous cluster definition was not effective in Durham, a much smaller city. We tested multiple cluster and buffer size definitions to find the most suitable definition for Durham.
Results
Using our new cluster definition, we identified neighborhoods in Durham with high densities of both on and off premise alcohol retailers as well as neighborhoods with large increases in their alcohol exposure indices over the ten-year study period. Durham-wide, Blacks had the highest exposure index, followed by Hispanics, with white non-Hispanics having the lowest alcohol retailer exposure index. Neighborhood and cluster-specific results are reported for interpretability in local policy and zoning conversations.
Conclusions & Significance to the Field
There is strong evidence that regulating alcohol outlet density is an effective strategy to reduce excessive alcohol use and the related harms. Therefore, it is essential for public health officials to measure alcohol outlet density to inform policies intended to regulate the location of alcohol retailers. By adapting the CDC guidance, our findings can be applied to a broader range of communities hoping to identify and develop policies to address high density alcohol clusters.
Presenters
Mary Beth Cox, MPH, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services - Division of Public Health
Biography
Mary Beth Cox is an epidemiologist with the North Carolina Division of Public Health. In the six years since receiving her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Global Health from New York Medical College, Ms. Cox has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi and worked in communicable disease surveillance in New York and North Carolina. She joined the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch in January 2016 as an epidemiologist focusing on alcohol and other drug use. Ms. Cox currently serves on several state and national workgroups aiming to reduce alcohol and other drug morbidity and mortality.