By The Chantler Review (2014)
This report concludes that standardised packaging of tobacco is likely to contribute to a reduction in smoking, including reducing the rate of children taking up smoking.
Category: Alcohol
Categories
Accident Prevention Alcohol Cancer Care of the Elderly Community Safety CVD CYP Healthcare Health Protection (Emergency planning Healthy Child including NCMP & CDO Healthy Settings Infant Feeding Infant Mortality Infection Control Library Liver Disease including NHS Health Checks Long-Term Conditions Mortality Nutrition Obesity Respiratory Disease seasonal mortality) Tobacco & Drugs
Annual report of the Chief Medical Officer on the state of the public's health: Surveillance Volume, 2012
By Department of Health (2014)
As well as presenting data and evidence, the report also comments on overarching trends. This year, information in the report suggests that we may need to rethink what is regarded as ‘normal’ in relation to our health and our society. Some of the main themes discussed in the report are obesity, national data on blindness and deafness and active travel.
ADEPIS (Alcohol & Drug Education & Prevention Information Service) (2014)
The standards – comprising statements explaining the criteria for meeting each requirement – are coupled with the following supporting tools: further reading and resources; examples of how standards might be evidenced; self assessment forms. These standards have drawn on existing national and international guidance as well as examples of good practice in alcohol and drug education and prevention. The set of standards include: delivering effective alcohol and drug education in the classroom as part of a planned PSHE programme; school context for effective alcohol and drug education; staff policies and safeguarding.
By Adam Smith Institute (2014)
This briefing is the first in a series which aims to analyse policies towards tobacco harm reduction and looks at the effectiveness of plain packaging policies.
Categories
Accident Prevention Alcohol Cancer Care of the Elderly Community Safety CVD CYP Healthcare Health Protection (Emergency planning Healthy Child including NCMP & CDO Healthy Settings Infant Feeding Infant Mortality Infection Control Library Liver Disease including NHS Health Checks Long-Term Conditions Mortality Nutrition Obesity Respiratory Disease seasonal mortality) Tobacco & Drugs
The future of public health: a horizon scan
By RAND Europe (2014)
Public Health England (PHE) commissioned RAND Europe to undertake a horizon scanning study exploring the future of public health and related scientific services. This work was intended to help inform thinking at the strategic level within PHE, firstly in relation to the wider vision of the Agency and, secondly, in relation to the proposals for the creation of an integrated public health science hub. The report focuses on the different future public health science needs and the extent to which an integrated science hub could serve PHE as it evolves over the next twenty years.
NICE (2014)
A summary of selected new evidence relevant to NICE
public health guidance 24 ‘Alcohol-use disorders: preventing
harmful drinking’ (2010)
By DrugScope (2014)
This report contains the findings from a survey of nearly 170 drug and alcohol services, from across England’s four PHE regions. Amongst its findings, it reports that the picture on engagement with health and wellbeing boards (HWBs) and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) is mixed, with positive examples, but other services reporting a lack of engagement; 35 per cent of drug and alcohol services surveyed reported a decrease in funding, against 20 per cent reporting an increase and 33 per cent no change; and almost half reported that they were employing fewer frontline staff and 6 out of 10 services reported an increase in the use of volunteers.
By Institute of Public Health in Ireland (2013)
The central aim of the report is to contribute to knowledge on the exposure of children to the harmful effects of tobacco smoke at various stages of their development. The findings of the report can support policy makers and service providers in their efforts to make tobacco-free childhoods a reality on the
island of Ireland.
By The Centre for Social Justice (2013)
This report lays bare the reality of substance abuse and addiction in Britain today. This ongoing challenge affects millions of people and has huge costs. Alcohol abuse costs taxpayers £21 billion a year and drugs £15 billion. While costs matter, it is the human consequences that present the real tragedy. The abuse of substances is a pathway to poverty and can lead to family breakdown and child neglect, homelessness, crime, debt, and long-term worklessness.
From its impact on children to its consequences for those in later life, addiction destroys lives, wrecks families and blights communities.
By NICE (2013)
Overview: In 2004, more than a third of non-smoking adults worldwide (33% of male non-smokers and 35% of female non-smokers), and 40% of children, were exposed to second-hand smoke. This exposure is estimated to have caused 379,000 deaths from ischaemic heart disease, 165,000 from lower respiratory infections, 36,900 from asthma and 21,400 from lung cancer (Öberg et al. 2011). Passive smoking can also affect fetal health, increasing the risk of low birth weight and premature birth if the mother is exposed to second-hand smoke during pregnancy (Crane et al. 2011).
By July 2007, smoking in enclosed public spaces, such as pubs and restaurants, and in workplaces had been banned throughout the UK. Similar legislation in Scotland resulted in a large reduction in exposure to second-hand smoke, which has been greatest in non-smokers living in non-smoking households (Haw and Gruer 2007). Early evidence suggests that the introduction of regional and national legislation banning smoking in public places around the world has reduced the incidence of diseases associated with second-hand smoke (Tan et al. 2012).
Current advice: The NICE public health guidance on tobacco and harm-reduction approaches to smoking and the associated NICE Pathway discuss the risks of exposure to second-hand smoke.
NICE guidance on quitting smoking in pregnancy and following childbirth recommends that healthcare professionals should in their first consultation with a pregnant woman discuss her smoking status and measure her carbon monoxide levels. Women who don’t smoke but have high levels as a result of exposure to second-hand smoke should be provided with information about the hazards of passive smoking.
New evidence: Cox et al. (2013) assessed whether bans on smoking in Belgium introduced successively in public spaces and workplaces (January 2006), restaurants (January 2007) and bars serving food (January 2010) affected the risk of preterm birth. The authors undertook logistic regression analysis of all live-born singleton births delivered at 24–44 weeks’ gestation in the Flanders region (n=606,877), adjusting for various infant, maternal and environmental factors.
Of the 448,520 spontaneous births that took place between January 2002 and December 2011, 32,123 (7.2%) occurred before gestational age of 37 weeks. The three types of smoking ban introduced were all associated with an immediate and sustained reduction in the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery (p<0.05 for all). The reduction was greatest for the ban on smoking in restaurants (step change –3.13%, 95% CI –4.37% to –1.87%, p<0.01) and then the ban on smoking in bars serving food (annual slope change –2.65%, 95% CI –5.11% to –0.13%, p=0.04). The risk of all types of preterm birth also showed a step decrease after 2007 (–3.18%, 95% CI –5.38% to –0.94%, p<0.01) and gradual drop after 2010 (–3.50%, 95% CI –6.35% to –0.57%, p=0.02 respectively). However, none of the smoke-free legislation had any effect on the risk of low birth weight (<2500 g), small for gestational age deliveries (birth weight below the 10th centile for the gestational age and sex of the baby) or average birth weight.
Sims et al. (2013) assessed whether emergency admissions for adults with asthma were affected by the introduction of legislation banning smoking in enclosed public spaces and workplaces in England. Hospital Episode Statistics were used to identify 502,000 emergency admissions for asthma in people aged 16 and over between 1997 and 2010. After adjusting for season, variation in population size and long-term trends in admissions, the introduction of smoke-free legislation in 2007 was associated with a 4.9% (95% CI 0.6% to 9.0%) drop in emergency admissions for asthma. The authors estimated that the legislation prevented approximately 1900 emergency admissions for asthma in the first year after implementation, and avoided a similar number of cases in the second and third years after introduction.
Commentary: “Both of these studies add to the growing evidence that smoke-free legislation is effective at reducing poor health. Cox et al. (2013) reported reductions in preterm deliveries following the phased introduction of legislation in Belgium, in line with the findings of previous studies conducted in Scotland and USA. Although Cox et al. (2013)’s findings are not novel, they add to the relatively small evidence base and reinforce the existing NICE guidance that pregnant women should be advised of the hazards of exposure to second-hand smoke. Antenatal visits usually start around the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, so this advice could be extended to women planning pregnancies.
“Sims et al. (2013) reported a reduction in emergency admissions for asthma in adults after introduction of smoke-free legislation in England. Millett et al. (2013) have recently reported reductions in childhood asthma in England after implementation of the legislation. These studies corroborate findings from other jurisdictions – including Scotland, the USA, Canada and Ireland – and demonstrate the effectiveness of existing UK legislation protecting from exposure in enclosed public places. More legislation is needed to encompass places not currently covered by English law, in particular private vehicles.” – Professor Jill Pell, Henry Mechan Professor of Public Health, University of Glasgow
Study sponsorship: The Flemish Scientific fund, the European Research Council and Hasselt University sponsored Cox et al. (2013) and the Sims et al. (2013) study was funded by the Department of Health’s Policy Research Programme.