Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density to Inform Policymakers

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends regulating alcohol outlet density to reduce excessive alcohol use and related harms. This panel will describe a new toolkit, Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density: A Toolkit for State and Local Surveillance (Mike Dolan Fliss), and examples from three states (Colorado, North Carolina, and Minnesota) of how alcohol outlet density (AOD) surveillance is being conducted to inform local-level decision-making related to alcohol outlet density.  

Methods: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, developed a toolkit that describes seven steps for conducting AOD surveillance, including how to calculate four indicators of AOD and visualizing and communicating the data. The panelists will provide an overview of the toolkit and highlight key considerations for using the toolkit, and then discuss examples of how three states have used the toolkit to measure AOD. 

Results: Minnesota will share progress on a state-managed data visualization tool for AOD, with mapping and calculations completed in QGIS, and visualizations in Tableau. Colorado will share a state-level mapping tool with calculations done in ArcMap, and visualizations in Esri’s StoryMap. North Carolina will share a data dashboard and disparity-focused analysis.      

Conclusions: The toolkit provides strong guidance for measuring AOD and allows teams to use the software and tools available to them. Audience members will gain an understanding of how AOD measurement can inform discussions with key stakeholders (e.g., decision makers, policy makers).