COVID-19 and commerce complicate minimum unit pricing effects on health – Authors' reply

Authors: Wyper, Grant M.A. ;

Mackay, Daniel F.;

Fraser, Catriona;

Lewsey, Jim;

Robinson, Mark;

Beeston, Clare;

Giles, Lucie

Source: The Lancet

Full text

: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01251-5

Abstract

We thank Nin-Chieh Hsu and Chia-Hao Hsu for their Correspondence on our study that evidenced the health benefits of implementing an alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland. They highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic increases the uncertainty of our study findings, a limitation we previously outlined. This is not a unique issue and is one facing any policy implemented before the COVID-19 pandemic that is being evaluated during the pandemic period. Due to the widespread pandemic shock, there is no perfect way to account for all pandemic-related uncertainty. To reflect this, we avoided being selective and adopted several pre-specified sensitivity analyses. This inclusive approach allowed for triangulation over how each analysis altered the measured health effect of the policy.

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Wyper, G., Mackay, D., Fraser, C., Lewsey, J., Robinson, M., Beeston, C. & Giles, L. 2023, 'COVID-19 and commerce complicate minimum unit pricing effects on health – Authors' reply', The Lancet, 402(10399), pp. 368-369. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01251-5

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01251-5