Health impacts of increasing alcohol prices in the European Union: A dynamic projection

Objective

Western Europe has high levels of alcohol consumption, with corresponding adverse health effects. Currently, a major revision of the EU excise tax regime is under discussion. We quantify the health impact of alcohol price increases across the EU.

Data and method

We use alcohol consumption data for 11 member states, covering 80% of the EU-27 population, and corresponding country-specific disease data (incidence, prevalence, and case-fatality rate of alcohol related diseases) taken from the 2010 published Dynamic Modelling for Health Impact Assessment (DYNAMO-HIA) database to dynamically project the changes in population health that might arise from changes in alcohol price.

Results

Increasing alcohol prices towards those of Finland (the highest in the EU) would postpone approximately 54,000 male and approximately 26,100 female deaths over 10 years. Moreover, the prevalence of a number of chronic diseases would be reduced: in men by approximately 97,800 individuals with diabetes, 65,800 with stroke and 62,200 with selected cancers, and in women by about 19,100, 23,500, and 27,100, respectively.

Conclusion

Curbing excessive drinking throughout the EU completely would lead to substantial gains in population health. Harmonisiation of prices to the Finnish level would, for selected diseases, achieve more than 40% of those gains.     

Inhibition of monocyte esterase activity by organophosphate insecticides

Organophosphate insecticides, such as Vapona, Naled, and Rabon, are highly potent inhibitors of an enzyme found in human monocytes. The enzyme, a specific monocyte esterase, could be inhibited by Vapona in blood samples via airborne contamination at levels easily achieved from commercial slow-release insecticide strips. Fifty percent inhibition (I50)--as measured on the Hemalog D (Technicon Corp.)--occurred at solution concentrations of 0.22, 1.5, and 2.6 X 10(-6) g/liter for Vapona, Rabon, and Naled, respectively. Parathion (a thiophosphate) and Baygon (a carbamate) were less potent, with I50 values of 3.7 X 10(-5) and 1.5 X 10(-4) g/liter, respectively. Dursban (another thiophosphate) and Carbaryl (a carbamate) showed only marginal inhibition. Eserine, malathion, nicotine and pyrethrum had no inhibitory effect up to 0.5 g/liter. The occurrence of this effect in vivo has not yet been shown, nor is it clear what the implications of such an effect would be. The inhibition of this enzyme by airborne contaminants, however, may interfere with the proper functioning of the Hemalog D.     

Dementia-free life expectancy (DemFLE) in The Netherlands

To gain an insight into the burden of dementia in an aging society, life expectancy with dementia and its counterpart dementia-free life expectancy (DemFLE) in The Netherlands are presented. Sullivan's method was used to calculate DemFLE. For elderly living either independently or in homes for the elderly prevalence figures on dementia were obtained from the Rotterdam Elderly Study (RES; n = 7528); for elderly in nursing homes the SIG Nursing home Information System was used. Conforming to other authors only the prevalence data on moderate and severe dementia as diagnosed with DSM-III-R criteria are used. The prevalence of mild dementia was not taken into account. At 65 years DemFLE for men is 14.0 years, that is 96.4% of the total life expectancy (14.5 years at this age). At age 90, DemFLE for men is 2.5 years, equal to 77.5% of the total life expectancy (3.3 years). For women DemFLE at age 65 is 17.7 years, that is 93.2% of their life expectancy (19.0 years), and at the age of 90, DemFLE for women is 2.8 years, equal to 74.7% of their remaining life expectancy (3.8 years). The absolute number of years with dementia remains relatively constant with increasing age. About 20–25% of these years with dementia are spent in nursing homes, the other 75–80% living independently. At each age compared with men women have both a higher DemFLE and a higher expectancy of years with dementia. The percentage of life expectancy without dementia however, is always lower for women, because of their higher total life expectancy. This indicates that the burden of dementia in absolute and relative terms is higher for women. Most years with dementia are spent at home, indicating that the burden of dementia rests mainly on the shoulders of informal caregivers.     

Octreotide dependency and headache: a case report

We report on headache induced by a somatostatin octapeptide analog (octreotide) used for the treatment of acromegaly, This "rebound" headache has severe tension-type characteristics and occurs every 6–8 h. It resolves dramatically within minutes with octreotide administration. This is the first report of headache developing under treatment with octreotide.     

Etiology and pathogenesis of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): significance of prematurity and perinatal hypoxic-haemodynamic encephalopathy

Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), defined as a disorder of awareness with impul-sivity, has lately been characterized as a dysfunction of the striatum (neostriatum = globus pallidus + putamen). This structure is in a unique position for contextual analysis and samples information from almost the entire cortex through its spiny neurons. The etiology is heterogeneous, with genetic as well as lesional factors. Among the latter, pre- and perinatal events are prominent. Advances in the understanding of the role of fetal circulatory insufficiency with loss of autoregulation and systemic hypotension have drawn attention to the vulnerability of watershed regions, including the striatum. Not only circulatory facts are important for this selectivity, however. The anatomical characteristics, with convergent glutaminergic afferent synaptic transmission from almost the entire cortex contribute to the vulnerability in ischemia-induced liberation of glutamate: The striatum becomes the victim of its virtue. Repeated hypoxic-ischemic events are particularly common in prematurity, a fact which seems to explain the high incidence of ADHD in this patient group. The magnitude of the problem is increasing with the increased survival rate among premature infants.