• Yazan Haddadin, Dev Katarey, Manavi Sachdeva, Laura Vickers, Ishleen Kaur, Ahmed Hashim, and Sumita Verma.
• Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Brighton, UK yazan.haddadin@nhs.net.
• Clin Med (Lond). 2020 May 1; 20 (3): 308312308-312.

Objective'Sensible on Strength' (SoS), a local public health initiative, is aimed at reducing high-strength beer and cider availability. The objective of this study was to assess its impact on local hospital admissions with alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) and on drinking behaviour.DesignThis was a retrospective cohort study in patients admitted with decompensated ALD, 3 years before and 3 years after the introduction of the SoS initiative.Hospital records of 143 index admissions with decompensated ALD were reviewed. Outcomes measures were the severity of liver disease on admission and mortality (inpatient and long-term), and change (if any) in alcohol drinking behaviour.ResultsComparing patients admitted in both phases, there were no significant differences in liver prognostic scores, liver-related complications, length of stay and inpatient/long-term mortality (p>0.05). However, the SoS initiative was associated with a 33% move away from beer and cider consumption (36.3% vs 54.0%; p=0.034), but without a significant change in units of alcohol consumed. The Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score was the only independent predictor of inpatient mortality (odds ratio 1.25; p=0.025).ConclusionDespite having no apparent impact on the clinical spectrum of local ALD admissions, it is conceivable that longer follow-up is needed to determine the true impact of this initiative.© Royal College of Physicians 2020. All rights reserved.

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