Background: No review has used a meta-analytic approach to estimate common odds ratios (ORs) for the effect of acute use of alcohol (AUA) on suicide attempts. We aim to report the results of the first meta-analysis of controlled epidemiological studies on AUA and suicide attempt.Method: The English-language literature on Medline, PsycINFO and Google Scholar was searched for original articles and critical review on AUA and suicide attempt (period 1996–2015). Studies had to report an OR estimate for this association. Common ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from random effects in meta-analyses for any AUA and two levels of alcohol use on suicide attempt were calculated.Results: In all, seven studies provided OR estimates for the likelihood of suicide attempt by AUA, compared with those who did not drink alcohol. Studies used case–control (n3) and case–crossover designs (n4). Meta-analysis revealed a common OR of 6.97 (95% CI 4.77–10.17) for any AUA. Using four studies, ‘low levels of acute drinking’ resulted in an OR of 2.71 (95% CI 1.56–4.71) and ‘high levels’ had an OR of 37.18 (95% CI 17.38–79.53).Conclusions: AUA is associated with increased likelihood of a suicide attempt, particularly at high doses. Such data should be incorporated into estimates of the burden of disease associated with alcohol use, which are currently limited by a consideration of only alcohol's chronic effects. Future research should focus on the mechanisms through which AUA confers risk for attempt.

Introduction and Aims: There is a growing interest in measuring alcohol's harms to people other than the drinker themselves. ‘Children of alcoholics’ and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder have received widespread attention. Less is known about how children are affected by post‐natal exposure to parental drinking other than alcohol abuse/dependence. In this scoping review, we aim to assemble and map existing evidence from cohort studies on the consequences of parental alcohol use for children, and to identify limitations and gaps in this literature.Design and Methods: Systematic review methods were used. Electronic databases were searched (1980 to October 2013) and a total of 3215 abstracts were screened, 326 full text papers examined and 99 eligible for inclusion according to selection criteria including separation of exposure and outcome measurement in time and report of a quantitative effect size.Results: The main finding is the large literature available. Adolescent drinking behaviour was the most common outcome measure and outcomes other than substance use were rarely analysed. In almost two of every three published associations, parental drinking was found to be statistically significantly associated with a child harm outcome measure. Several limitations in the literature are noted regarding its potential to address a possible causal role of parental drinking in children's adverse outcomes.Discussion and Conclusions: This study identifies targets for further study and provides a platform for more targeted analytic investigations which ascertain risk of bias, and which are capable of considering the appropriateness of causal inferences for the observed associations. [Rossow I, Felix L, Keating P, McCambridge J. Parental drinking and adverse outcomes in children: A scoping review of cohort studies. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:397–405]

The objective of this study was to provide an updated review of the magnitude of the relationship between alcohol use and suicidal behaviour at the individual and the population level. Systematic literature searches retrieved 14 reviews of individual level studies and 16 primary population level studies. Alcohol abuse and alcohol intoxication are often present in suicidal behaviour; risk of suicide is elevated in alcohol abusers and increasing population drinking tends to be associated with increase in suicide rates. Estimated magnitude of the relationship differs for men and women and it varies at the population level across cultures with different drinking pattern. These variations probably reflect gender differences and cultural variation in drinking behavior generally. Empirical evidence for a causal relationship is still urgently needed.

Aims: To evaluate evidence of the capacity for causal inference in studies of associations between parental and offspring alcohol consumption in the general population. Methods: A systematic search for, and narrative analysis of, prospective cohort studies of the consequences of drinking, except where assessed prenatally only, or with clinically derived instruments. Primary outcome measures were alcohol use or related problems in offspring, which were collected at least 3 years after exposure measures of parental drinking. The systematic review included 21 studies comprising 26 354 families or parent–child dyads with quantitative effect measures available for each study. Criteria for capacity of causal inference included (1) theory‐driven approach and analysis; (2) analytical rigour; and (3) minimization of sources of bias. Results: Four of the 21 included studies filled several, but not all, criteria and were assessed to have some capacity for causal inference. These four studies found some evidence that parental drinking predicted drinking behaviour in adolescent offspring. The remaining 17 studies had little or no such capacity. Conclusions: There is a fairly large and consistent literature demonstrating that more parental drinking is associated with more drinking in offspring. Despite this, existing evidence is insufficient to warrant causal inferences at this stage.

Aims  To estimate the effect on violence of small changes in closing hours for on‐premise alcohol sales, and to assess whether a possible effect is symmetrical.Design, setting, and participants  A quasi‐experimental design drawing on data from 18 Norwegian cities that have changed (extended or restricted) the closing hours for on‐premise alcohol sales. All changes were ≤ 2 hours.Measurements  Closing hours were measured in terms of the latest permitted hour of on‐premise trading, ranging from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. The outcome measure comprised police‐reported assaults that occurred in the city centre between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. at weekends. Assaults outside the city centre during the same time window should not be affected by changes in closing hours but function as a proxy for potential confounders, and was thus included as a control variable. The data spanned the period Q1 2000–Q3 2010, yielding 774 observations.Findings  Outcomes from main analyses suggested that each 1‐hour extension of closing hours was associated with a statistically significant increase of 4.8 assaults (95% CI 2.60, 6.99) per 100 000 inhabitants per quarter (i.e. an increase of about 16%). Findings indicate that the effect is symmetrical. These findings were consistent across three different modelling techniques.Conclusion  In Norway, each additional 1‐hour extension to the opening times of premises selling alcohol is associated with a 16% increase in violent crime.