Within the scope of the World Health Organization's program "Health for all by the year 2000", a health information system for Rotterdam neighborhoods was developed. Through this information system, among others, data on geographic distribution of alcohol use, bars, liqour shops and traffic accidents are collected. Research has been done on the geographic relationship between the percentage of alcohol users and numbers of bars, liquor shops and traffic injuries.. Significant correlations were found between the percentage of alcohol users and traffic injuries per neighborhood, the number of bars and traffic injuries per neighborhood and the percentage of alcohol users and number of liquor shops per neighborhood. Although confounding of the data occurs, the observed relations can be logically explained. Knowledge of the geographic relation between alcohol use, traffic injuries and number of bars can be useful for further development of multi-sectoral health policies. (A)
Abstract