This study gave a geographic analysis of “Alcohol Retail Density and Demographic Predictors of Health Disparities.” The purpose of the research was to determine whether there is a correlation between the geographic density of alcohol retailers and higher levels of “demographic characteristics that predict health disparities.”

In order to carry this experiment out, the researchers gathered information on the alcohol retailers in the United States and organized the data on a map. The displayed the level of alcohol outlet density at the US Census tract level. US Census data was able to reveal “tract-level” measures on characteristics such as poverty, education, crowding, and race/ethnicity of the population samples. The method used was a multiple linear regression in order to compare the relationship between the factors considered along with the retail alcohol density.

The results revealed a strong nonlinear relationship between alcohol outlet density with race, poverty and education. In “urban” areas, high-proportions of black and latino populations tended to have higher alcohol-outlet densities. In particular, in places with high Latino communities, the alcohol density was found to be “twice as high as the median density.” However, in places with small populations of inhabitants, the factors researched tended to lack relationships.

Ultimately, the study concluded that “a greater density of alcohol retailers was associated with higher levels of poverty and with higher proportions of Blacks and Latinos in urban census tracts.” While there may be a relationship between alcohol outlet-density levels and “demographic characteristics that predict health disparities” does not mean that one factor necessarily affects the rise in the other. This means that it happens that places with higher alcohol-outlet densities also have populations with certain demographic characteristics are common. This could also mean that the areas researched could have a history of conditions such as alcoholism and other characteristics that make them give these kind of results.

Citation:

Berke, Ethan M., Susanne E. Tanski, Eugene Demidenko, Jennifer Alford-Teaster, Xun Shi, and James D. Sargent. “Alcohol Retail Density and Demographic Predictors of Health Disparities: A Geographic Analysis.” American Journal of Public Health. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2936987/>.