Alcohol is a recognized global risk factor for many diseases and injury types and a major contributor to disability and death. While cost-effective interventions do exist, many countries lack a comprehensive national alcohol harm reduction policy. The Arab world includes 22 diverse countries stretching from North Africa to Western Asia having varying dispositions with regards to alcohol sale and consumption. Epidemiological data is scattered and the picture on alcohol consumption remains blurry. This paper presents the findings of an extensive review conducted on all 22 Arab countries, specifically describing: (1) the density and methodology of alcohol-related peer-reviewed publications over the last two decades (1993-2013); (2) the epidemiology of alcohol consumption given all available data; and (3) the current status of policies in the region. Our search revealed a strikingly low number of alcohol-related peer-reviewed published studies - a total of 81 publications across 22 countries and two decades. Most studies are based on clinical or student samples. Where data is available, age of onset is low and drinking is frequent, in the absence of any available or enforced harm reduction policies. We submit that countries in the Arab region can be divided into four categories by alcohol ban and published data. One category includes countries where alcohol is not banned but data is absent, suggesting an ostrich-like response to a controversial behavior, or reflecting a weak research infrastructure and/or policy landscape. Evidence-informed recommendations and future directions for policy and research are discussed and tailored to countries' current stance on alcohol legislation and consumption. Given the particular vulnerability of youth to uptake of alcohol as well as the resulting short and long term consequences, the paper concludes by focusing on the implications of the findings for youth alcohol harm reduction.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 May 2023.
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#6,496,106
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from International Journal of Drug Policy
#1,747
of 3,046 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#73,478
of 290,714 outputs
Outputs of similar age from International Journal of Drug Policy
#17
of 32 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,647 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 74th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,046 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 24.6. This one is in the 42nd percentile – i.e., 42% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 32 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
