Area 2: Counting addiction

Led by Jϋrgen Rehm (Dresden University of Technology)

Even though it is a well-known (and widely used) term, ‘addiction’ is not a clear, established and well-defined concept. Addictions, if understood as substance use disorders and gambling/gaming disorders, are presumed to be prevalent in Europe. However, up to now, there are few estimates for the EU as a whole, and for many countries prevalence numbers are missing. Area 2 aims to account for and count the social cost of addictions to European society.

 

  • WP4 - Classifying addiction - examines the various classifications of addiction with a view to extracting common elements of these classifications. Led by Jϋrgen Rehm.

Deliverables

Publications and related documents

Defining substance use disorders: do we really need more than heavy use? (2013) Rehm, Marmet, et al.

The Tangible Common Denominator of Substance Use Disorders: A Reply to Commentaries to Rehm et al. (2013a). Rehm, Anderson, et al.

Doing it by numbers: A simple approach to reducing the harms of alcohol. (2014) Nutt and Rehm.

Taxometric analysis of DSM-IV and DSM-5 alcohol use disorders. (2013) Kerridge, Saha, et al.

Chronic heavy drinking and ischaemic heart disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2014) Roerecke and Rehm

Alcohol and ischaemic heart disease risk-finally moving beyond interpretation of observational epidemiology. (2015) Roerecke and Rehm

Comparative risk assessment of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illicit drugs using the margin of exposure approach. (2015) Rehm and Lachenmeier

Why does society accept a higher risk for alcohol than for other voluntary or involuntary risks? (2014) Rehm, Lachenmeier and Room

Can resveratrol in wine protect against the carcinogenicity of ethanol? A probabilistic dose-response assessment. (2014) Dirk W. Lachenmeier, Rolf Godelmann, Barbara Witt, Kerstin Riedel and Jürgen Rehm

Alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, and ischemic heart disease: a narrative review of meta-analyses and a systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of heavy drinking occasions on risk for moderate drinkers. (2014) Michael Roerecke and Jürgen Rehm

 

  • WP5 - Counting addiction - aims to provide an epidemiological overview of addictions related to alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, gambling and gaming for 31 countries. Led by Gerhard Gmel (Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems).

Deliverables

Publications and related documents

 

  • WP6 - Costing addiction – is estimating the broad social costs attributable to alcohol, illegal drugs and tobacco, as well as gambling and gaming, for three EU countries (Poland, Portugal and Norway), and the avoidable costs associated with key policy actions. Led by Krzysztof Brzozka (State Agency for the Prevention of Alcohol-related Problems).

Deliverables

 

Area 2 findings will contribute to the analysis of the different conceptualisations of additions from various angles and disciplines, and will try to establish a classification of addictions which can guide research and policy development in Europe. The studies from Area 2 will also contribute to reducing the research and literature gap on classifying, counting and costing addiction, especially at the European level. From a policy perspective, the notion of avoidable costs is crucial to the better formulation of policies, and to good and efficient public resource use.

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