Background Little is known about brand-specific alcohol consumption among underage youth, as existing information is collected at the level of alcoholic beverage type. This study identifies the alcohol brands consumed by a nationally representative sample of underage youth in the U.S. Methods We obtained a national sample of 1,032 underage youth, ages 13–20, using a pre-recruited internet panel maintained by Knowledge Networks. Youth ages 18–20 were recruited directly from the panel via email invitation. Teens ages 13–17 were identified by asking adult panelists to identify a member of their household. The survey assessed the past 30-day consumption of 898 brands of alcohol among 16 alcoholic beverage types, including the frequency and amount of each brand consumed in the past 30 days. Market share for a given brand was calculated by dividing the total number of drinks for that brand in the past 30 days across the entire sample by the total number of drinks for all identified brands. Results The alcohol brands with highest prevalence of past 30-day consumption were Bud Light (27.9%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 23.3%–32.4%), Smirnoff malt beverages (17.0%, 95% CI 12.9%–21.1%), and Budweiser (14.6%, 95% CI 11.0%–18.3%). Brand market share was concentrated in a relatively small number of brands, with the top 25 brands accounting for nearly half of all market share. Conclusions Underage youth alcohol consumption, although spread out over several alcoholic beverage types, is concentrated among a relatively small number of alcohol brands. This finding has important implications for alcohol research, practice, and policy.

Background: While there is overwhelming data supporting the association between alcohol outlet density and violent crime, there remain conflicting findings about whether on- or off-premise outlets have a stronger association. This inconsistency may be in part a result of the methods used to calculate alcohol outlet density and violent crime. This analysis uses routine activity theory and spatial access methods to study the association between access to alcohol outlets and violent crime, including type of outlet and type of crime in Baltimore, Maryland. Methods: The data in this analysis include alcohol outlets from 2016 (n=1,204), violent crimes from 2012–2016 (n=51,006), and markers of social disorganization, including owner-occupied housing, median annual household income, drug arrests, and population density. The analysis used linear regression to determine the association between access to alcohol outlets and violent crime exposure. Results: Each 10% increase in alcohol outlet access was associated with a 4.2% increase in violent crime exposure (β=0.43, 95% CI 0.33, 0.52, p<0.001). A 10% increase in access to off-premise outlets (4.4%, β=0.45, 95% CI 0.33, 0.57, p<0.001) and LBD-7 outlets (combined off- and on-premise outlets) (4.2%, β=0.43, 95% CI 0.33, 0.52, p<0.001) had a greater association with violent crime than on-premise outlets (3.0%, β=0.31, 95% CI 0.20, 0.41, p<0.001). Conclusions: Access to outlets that allow for off-site consumption had a greater association with violent crime than outlets that only permit on-site consumption. The lack of effective measures to keep order in and around off-premise outlets could attract or multiply violent crime.

Background: The objective of this analysis was to compare measurement methods-counts, proximity, mean distance, and spatial access-of calculating alcohol outlet density and violent crime using data from Baltimore, Maryland.Methods: Violent crime data (n = 11,815) were obtained from the Baltimore City Police Department and included homicides, aggravated assaults, rapes, and robberies in 2016. We calculated alcohol outlet density and violent crime at the census block (CB) level (n = 13,016). We then weighted these CB-level measures to the census tract level (n = 197) and conducted a series of regressions. Negative binomial regression was used for count outcomes and linear regression for proximity and spatial access outcomes. Choropleth maps, partial R 2 , Akaike's Information Criterion, and root mean squared error guided determination of which models yielded lower error and better fit.Results: The inference depended on the measurement methods used. Eight models that used a count of alcohol outlets and/or violent crimes failed to detect an association between outlets and crime, and 3 other count-based models detected an association in the opposite direction. Proximity, mean distance, and spatial access methods consistently detected an association between outlets and crime and produced comparable model fits.Conclusions: Proximity, mean distance, and spatial access methods yielded the best model fits and had the lowest levels of error in this urban setting. Spatial access methods may offer conceptual strengths over proximity and mean distance. Conflicting findings in the field may be in part due to error in the way that researchers measure alcohol outlet density.

There are few cost-effectiveness analyses that model alcohol outlet zoning policies. This study determines the potential decreases in homicides, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and victim and criminal justice costs associated with four policy options that would reduce the alcohol outlet access in Baltimore. Method: This costeffectiveness analysis used associations between on-premise (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.41), off-premise (IRR = 1.76), and combined on-and off-premise outlet density (IRR = 1.07) and homicide in Baltimore. We determined the potential change in the level of homicide that could occur with changes in the density of alcohol outlets, assuming that 50% of the association was causal. Results: Reducing alcohol outlet density in Baltimore City by one quintile was associated with decreases of 51 homicides per year, $63.7 million, and 764 DALY s. Removing liquor stores in residential zones was associated with 22 fewer homicides, which would cost $27.5 million and lead to 391 DALY s. Removing bars/ taverns operating as liquor stores was associated with a decrease of one homicide, $1.2 million, and 17 DALY s. Removing both the liquor stores in residential zones and the bars/taverns operating as liquor stores was associated with 23 fewer homicides, which translated to $28.7 million and 409 DALY s. Conclusions: For preventing homicides, the strategy of removing liquor stores in residential zones was preferred because it was associated with substantial reductions in homicides without closing unacceptably high numbers of outlets. It is possible that policies that close the bars/taverns operating as liquor stores would be associated with decreases in other types of violent crime. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs,

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