The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #65937

Kimberly B. Morland, PhD, Community and Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1057, New York, NY 10029, 212-241-7531, kimberly.morland@mssm.edu and Steve Wing, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, McGavran-Greenburg Hall, CB#7435, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400.

We investigated relationships between the racial composition of neighborhoods, alcohol availability, and alcohol intake of residents. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study provided alcohol intakes of 316 black and 2720 white residents of Forsyth County, NC, and the NC Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Office provided places permitted to sell alcohol, during 1993-1995. Addresses were geocoded to census tracts (neighborhoods). Predominately white neighborhoods (PWN) (< 20% black residents) were compared to predominately black (PBN) (> 80% black residents) and racially mixed neighborhoods (RMN) (20-80% black residents) using Poisson regression and adjusted for neighborhood wealth. Alcohol intake was compared for people living in areas with and without places that sell alcohol using random intercept models and were adjusted for income, education and neighborhood wealth. Compared to PWN, five times as many ABC stores are located in PBN and three times as many are located in RMN (Prevalence Ratio (PR) = 5.6, 95% (CI) [2.3, 13.5] and PR=3.6, 95% CI [1.6, 8.1]). Other places permitted to sell alcohol, such as restaurants, were distributed evenly. The prevalence of current drinking among black Americans was higher for residents of neighborhoods with places that sell alcohol compared to neighborhoods without places that sell alcohol (PR)=4.7 95% CI [0.8, 29.5]). No effect was observed for white Americans (PR=1.0 95% CI [0.8, 1.3]). Although the direction of the relationship cannot be determined with these data, the results suggest alcohol availability is associated with neighborhood composition and intake may be influenced by physical availability.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the differences in the physical availability of alcohol by neighborhood composition.
• Identify the potential impact avaialbility of alcohol has on intake, independent of other individual characterisitics.

Keywords: Access and Services, Alcohol Use

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.