Alcohol & Breastfeeding Web Page

Not drinking alcohol is the safest option for breastfeeding mothers. Generally, moderate alcohol consumption by a breastfeeding mother (up to 1 standard drink per day) is not known to be harmful to the infant, especially if the mother waits at least 2 hours after a single drink before nursing. However, exposure to alcohol above moderate levels through breast milk could be damaging to an infant’s development, growth, and sleep patterns.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently launched a new web page to better inform health care providers and nursing mothers,to provide guidance on consuming alcohol while breastfeeding.

Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia

The report Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia 2016–17: key findings, shows that over 127,000 Australians received drug or alcohol treatment in 2016–17, equating to around 1 in every 170 people. The fastest growing treatment area is for amphetamine use, which has more than doubled over the last 10 years—in 2007–08.
The report from AIHW also shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians were overrepresented among clients. Despite only comprising 2.7% of the Australian population (10 years and over), 1 in 7 clients (15%) receiving drug or alcohol treatment services were Indigenous.

Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia 2016-17: key findings.  

1 in 20 Australian deaths caused by alcohol and illicit drugs

Alcohol and illicit drug use are serious and complex issues that contribute to substantial illness, disease, injury, and deaths in Australia. This new report from AIHW provides insight into the health impact of alcohol and illicit drug use in Australia;

• Nearly 5% of all deaths are from alcohol and illicit drug use.    
• One-third of road traffic injuries due to alcohol use
• Opioids are the largest contributor to the illicit drug use burden.

Impact of alcohol and illicit drug use on the burden of disease and injury in Australia: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011, AIHW. 29 March 2018. Cat. no: BOD 19

Weight, Diet and Physical Activity

The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health has published a full open access issue in early 2018. The issue is divided into sections:

•  Weight, Diet and Physical Activity
• Alcohol
• Infectious and Communicable Disease    
• Water
• Cancer

2018. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 42(1), 3-113  

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and youth justice

This study, in a representative sample of young people in detention in Western Australia, has documented a high prevalence of FASD and severe neurodevelopmental impairment, the majority of which had not been previously identified. These findings highlight the vulnerability of young people, particularly Aboriginal youth, within the justice system and their significant need for improved diagnosis to identify their strengths and difficulties, and to guide and improve their rehabilitation.

Bower C, Watkins RE, Mutch RC, et al. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and youth justice: a prevalence study among young people sentenced to detention in Western Australia. BMJ Open 2018;8(2) [open access]

Annual alcohol poll 2017

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education’s (FARE) has reported on its annual survey of Australian's attitudes towards alcohol: Annual alcohol poll 2017: attitudes and behaviours. 78% of respondents indicated that they thought Australia had a problem with alcohol abuse, and 81% believed that more needs to be done to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.  

Community perceptions of the alcohol industry suggest we are sceptical about their motivations and business tactics. 57% of Australians believe that the alcohol industry targets people under the age of 18 years, and that it has too much influence with governments. There is a low level of trust in information provided by the alcohol industry on the number of standard drinks, responsible drinking, drinking during pregnancy, underage drinking, and the health benefits of certain alcohol products.

Alcohol and drug treatment services in Australia

In 2015-16, around 796 alcohol and other drug treatment agencies provided just over 206,000 treatment episodes to an estimated 133,000 clients. This was an icrease of 17% over the five previous years. The most common drugs leading people to seek treatment were alcohol (32%), cannabis (23%), amphetamines (23%) and heroin (6%). Two in three clients were male and 55% were aged 20-39. Treatment for amphetamines is continuing to increase.

The AIHW has presented Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia, 2015-16: key findings  a useful summary of the National Minimum Data Set published recently. The site also links to all the available data on alcohol, smoking and illicit drug taking in Australia.

Cannabis use and associated disorders

Substance use was the focus of a recent issue of Australian Family Physician. One of the articles, Cannabis use and its associated disorders: clinical care, by Jan Copeland, emphasises that cannabis is the most widely used and variably regulated illicit drug in the world. Although the rates of use in Australia have stabilised, levels of cannabis use disorder are on the rise.

The article describes the prevalence of cannabis use, associated disorders and provides information on assessment and management.  

Other articles in this issue of AFP (Dec 2016, Vol 45 (12) look at chronic alcohol abuse, prescription drug abuse, and the inherited chronic pain patient. All articles are free to access online.

Impacts of changes to trading hours on alcohol-related harm

Setting legal limits on trading hours for licensed premises has been a key policy approach to managing alcohol-related problems in Australia. Recently, following gradual extensions to permitted hours of sale, more rigorous restrictions on have been implemented in NSW and Queensland. There is a growing body of international research examining the impacts of trading hour policies on alcohol-related harm and this systematic review of the literature examines studies over the past ten years.

Twenty-one studies were identified, including seven from Australia, which demonstrate that reducing the hours during which on-premise alcohol outlets can sell alcohol late at night can substantially reduce rates of violence. The authors conclude that "the evidence of effectiveness is strong enough to consider restrictions on late trading hours for bars and hotels as a key approach to reducing late-night violence in Australia."

Claire Wilkinson, Michael Livingston, Robin Room Impacts of changes to trading hours of liquor licences on alcohol-related harm: a systematic review 2005–2015. Public Health Research & Practice 26 (4), September 2016.  doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17061/phrp2641644

Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2014-15

New data in the report Alcohol and other drugs treatment services in Australia, 2014–15, show that about 115,000 clients received more than 170,000 treatment episodes over the year from 843 agencies across Australia. While alcohol (38%) continued to be the main drug clients sought treatment for, amphetamine treatment doubled from 9% to 20% between 2010–11 and 2014–15.

The majority of clients received treatment in a non-residential facility, such as a community health centre. The most common types of treatment included counselling, assessment and withdrawal management, with counselling accounting for 2 in 5 treatment episodes.

Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2014–15. AIHW. Cat. no. HSE 173; 93pp.

Annual alcohol poll 2016

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education has published its Annual alcohol poll 2016: attitudes and behaviours. According to their surveys, 56% of people who drink to get drunk expect to feel happy and 31% expect to feel a sense of social belonging.  The reality is quite different though, as when asked how they actually felt after the last drinking episode, only 28% felt happy and 15% achieved the sense of belonging. Conversely, 29% of drinkers reported feeling tired and 17% were sick after the last time they were drunk, despite predicting much lower responses before the event.

Since the 2015 poll, there has been an increase in the proportion of people surveyed who believe that Australia has a problem with alcohol - up from 75% to 78%.  29% of Australians reported that they have been affected by alcohol-related violence, and 23% of parents with a child under 18 reported that their child had been harmed or put at risk of harm because of someone else’s drinking.

Virtual Issue: Risk Factors for Adolescent Drinking

Heavy alcohol use in adolescence has been associated with a number of negative outcomes, including increased risks for the development of substance-related problems. This virtual issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, focuses on a broad range of risk factors associated with adolescent alcohol use and misuse.   

The seven papers in the issue cover a broad range of risk factors from individual characteristics, such as impulsivity and genetics, to environmental factors, such as peer and drinking contexts. Numerous studies have indicated that environmental, genetic and developmental factors all influence behavioral outcomes.

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Risk Factors for Adolescent Drinking. Virtual Issue

National Health Survey: First Results, 2014-15

The 2014-15 National Health Survey is the most recent in a series of Australia-wide health surveys conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The survey was designed to collect a range of information about the health of Australians, including:

• prevalence of long-term health conditions;
• health risk factors such as smoking, overweight and obesity, alcohol consumption and exercise;
• use of health services such as consultations with health practitioners and actions people have recently taken for their health; and
• demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. 

4364.0.55.001 - National Health Survey: First Results, 2014-15 

Dementia, Disability and Frailty in Later Life

Leading a healthier lifestyle can delay dementia, disability and frailty in later life. A recent guideline from NICE in the UK recommends National organisations and local government departments that influence public health should continue to develop and support population-level initiatives to reduce the risk of dementia, disability and frailty by making it easier for people to:

• stop smoking
• be more physically active
• reduce their alcohol consumption
• adopt a healthy diet
• achieve and/or maintain a healthy weight

NICE also recommends that organisations make physical activity, adopting a healthy diet and achieving and maintaining a healthy weight as accessible, affordable and acceptable as possible.

Dementia, disability and frailty in later life – mid-life approaches to delay or prevent onset. NICE Guidelines [NG16] October 2015  

Conversations about alcohol and pregnancy

New research funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and undertaken by the University of Canberra’s News and Media Research Centre has found that women receive contradictory information about the risks of drinking alcohol while pregnant. 

In Conversations about alcohol and pregnancy, a group of Canberra women were interviewed to see how they understood the issue and how they interpret different types of information about it from the media, experts and public health guidelines. 110 media items were analysed and a dominant framework of "contested evidence and advice" was revealed, where stories highlight contradictions evidencing harm or no harm to the foetus from alcohol consumption. This was largely mirrored in the women interviewed.

Some women discussed uncertainty surrounding its potential impacts as their reasoning for abstaining from alcohol, while others thought that the occasional drink was acceptable. Some felt they should be able to decide themselves what they could drink and others felt public health messages were reasonable.    

Trends in alcohol consumption

This report from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.finds that the number of Australians aged between 14 and 17 who are binge drinking has decreased by half over the last 13 years, while the number of abstainers has more than doubled. There has also been an increase in the age at which many young people first drink alcohol.

However at the other end of the scale, even though Australia’s overall level of drinking has declined, the top ten per cent of drinkers are now responsible for an increasing proportion of the total consumption (from 48.9 per cent in 2001 up to 53.2 per cent in 2013). There is a definite need to ensure that policy and prevention focuses on older adults as well as young people, since Australians over the age of 40 have shown signs of increasingly problematic drinking between 2001 and 2013.

Livingston, M. (2015). Understanding recent trends in Australian alcohol consumption. Canberra:
Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.

Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2013-14

This report, published recently by the AIHW indicates that around 119,000 clients in 2013-2014 were estimated to have received over 180,700 treatment episodes from 795 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies. Alcohol was the most common drug needing treatment for people aged over 30, and cannabis was the most common for those aged under 30.  Counselling was the most common form of treatment sought.

The report gives details on the agencies available, the drugs of concern and the types of treatment provided and compares the data to previous years. For example, since 2009-10, there has been an increase in use of amphetamines (from 7% to 17%) and an increase in smoking/inhaling as the method of administration for amphetamines.

Global Drug Survey 2015

The Global Drug Survey (an independent research organisation) each year attracts more than 100,000
online responses from individuals around the world about their drug use. The study looks at prevalence, price, purity, value for money and the proportion of people seeking medical treatment. The 2015 survey specifically focussed on:

• The dark net - with the closure of Silk Road, how are people buying drugs online?
• Nitrous oxide - the risks of neurological harm from this drug
• E-cigarettes - whether these might be used for something other than nicotine
• Performance enhancing drugs - weight loss agents and anabolic steroids
• Cognitive enhancers - Ritalin, modafanil and atomoxetine use among students and working people.

Annual Alcohol Poll 2015

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education has released the Annual Alcohol Poll, 2015  which aims to assess Australians’ attitudes towards alcohol, alcohol consumption behaviours and various alcohol policies. 79% of those surveyed indicated that they consume alcohol.  34% of these drink to get drunk and 33% choose wine as their preferred alcoholic drink.   

The Poll has indicated that 75% of the almost 2000 respondents agreed that Australia has a problem with excess drinking or alcohol abuse, with 71% believing that alcohol-related problems in Australia will get worse or remain the same over the next five to ten years and 73% believing that more needs to be done to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.

Community perceptions about the alcohol industry indicated that the majority of Australians believe that the alcohol industry targets people under 18 (59%), that it has too much influence with governments (51%) and that it makes political donations to influence policy (54%).   

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Organisations report

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a new report today titled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations: Online Services Report - key results 2013-14.

The report includes details on:

• 203 organisations provided primary health-care services to around 419,000 clients through 4.6 million client contacts
• 189 counsellors provided social and emotional wellbeing or Link Up counselling services to around 16,600 clients through 88,200 client contacts
• 56 organisations provided substance-use rehabilitation and treatment services to around 43,000 clients through 371,000 episodes of care.    

Download the full report for free online.