Jakob Manthey

• Phd
• Researcher at University Medical Center Hamburg - Eppendorf

Introduction Alcohol consumption poses a significant health risk, contributing to 10% of deaths in the WHO European Region. To combat this, the WHO recommends the implementation of its ‘best buy’ policies—three cost-effective alcohol policies that include higher taxes, restricted availability and marketing bans. While evidence links alcohol marketi...

Introduction: For people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), the German treatment guidelines recommend inpatient qualified withdrawal (QWT; physical withdrawal plus psychosocial treatment to enhance motivation to abstain from drinking) and post-acute rehabilitation treatment. This study is the first to (a) evaluate re-hospitalisation among AUD patient...

Background A variety of treatment options for people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) exist. Surveys estimate that 1 in 10 people with AUD utilise treatment, but real-world treatment pathways remain covert. This data-linkage study seeks to characterise treatment utilisation patterns to identify gaps in treatment access and delivery in Germany. Meth...

Introduction Alcohol health literacy is critical for informed consumer decision making but has yet received limited attention in public health research. We therefore seek to measure alcohol health literacy and its educational distribution in Germany. Methods In this cross‐sectional study, we developed and applied a brief nine‐item questionnaire on...

Introduction We aimed to assess: (i) trends in alcohol‐specific — that is, fully attributable — morbidity and mortality in the German adult population aged 15–69 between 2000 and 2021; and (ii) changes in alcohol‐attributable disease burden — that is, fully and partially alcohol‐attributable categories — for 2006, 2012, 2018 and 2021. Methods Morb...

Introduction The use of high‐potency cannabis products is associated with an increased risk of mental disorders. This study investigates whether the rising THC concentration in Germany is associated with an increase in cannabis‐related diagnoses. Methods The number of insured persons with at least one cannabis‐related ICD‐10 F12 diagnosis (e.g., h...

Aims Our study aimed to a) describe the distribution of hospital discharges with primary and secondary alcohol‐specific diagnoses by sex and age group, and b) describe how the number of hospital discharges with primary and secondary alcohol‐specific diagnoses have changed across different diagnostic groups (categorized by primary International Clas...

Background and aims Previously identified national drinking patterns in Europe lack comparability and might be no longer be valid due to changes in economic conditions and policy frameworks. We aimed to identify the most recent alcohol drinking patterns in Europe based on comparable alcohol exposure indicators using a data‐driven approach, as well...

Introduction Germany is reforming its legal approach to cannabis, allowing the possession and cultivation of cannabis for recreational purposes. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the policy reform on (1) The prevalence of cannabis use in the general population and (2) Driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) among re...

Cannabis use and treatment demand has risen in the past decade. Previous analyses of treatment demand are limited by methodological constraints or are outdated. Cross-country differences and trends in cannabis treatment demand are described using data from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Two novel indicators are employe...

Aim: Alcohol use is causing a considerable health burden for individuals and society in Germany. To reduce the burden from alcohol use, ensuring optimal treatment for those who are in need, is key. With this data-linkage study, we aim to provide a comprehensive description of healthcare service use among individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUD)...

Background Although many individuals with alcohol dependence (AD) are recognized in the German healthcare system, only a few utilize addiction-specific treatment services. Those who enter treatment are not well characterized regarding their prospective pathways through the highly fragmented German healthcare system. This paper aims to (1) identify...

This data synthesis examined the effectiveness of behavioural and pharmacological approaches for cannabis treatment. We integrated findings from high level evidence studies and prioritised data from Europe when available. The synthesis found that only a relatively small number of published behavioural and pharmacological studies on cannabis interve...

With the enforcement of the Cannabis Act on 1 April 2024, Germany has adopted one of the most liberal legal approaches to cannabis on the continent. The German model prioritises a non-profit approach and precludes legal market mechanisms. We believe these are the main drivers for increasing cannabis use and related health problems, based on observa...

Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden borne by others than the alcohol user. Alcohol’s harm to others includes a multitude of conditions, such as trauma from traffic crashes, fetal disorders due to prenatal exposure to alcohol, as well as interpersonal and in...

Background: While alcohol use is an established risk factor for interpersonal violence, the extent to which people are affected by interpersonal violence from others’ drinking has not yet been quantified for different world regions. This modelling study aims to provide the first estimates of the national and regional prevalence of interpersonal vio...

The German federal government plans to decriminalise cannabis. The impact of this policy on use prevalence, cannabis-related health and legal problems cannot be fully anticipated and should be viewed in context with current trends. We used routine data on (a) cannabis use (population-based surveys), (b) cannabis-related diagnoses (ICD-10 code F12)...

This paper introduces the special issue on cannabis use in Europe. It describes data on the prevalence of cannabis use in Europe and the more limited data on the prevalence of cannabis use disorders, one of the most common forms of drug problem treated in many countries in Europe. It summarises what research has indicated about the adverse effects...

Reducing the affordability of alcoholic beverages by increasing alcohol excise taxation can lead to a reduction in alcohol consumption but the impact on government alcohol excise tax revenue is poorly understood. This study aimed to (a) describe cross-country tax revenue variations and (b) investigate how changes in taxation were related to changes...

Background: The federal government of Germany is planning to liberalize the recreational cannabis market for adults. We aimed to collect key baseline data on frequency of use, routes of administration, and co-use of cannabis and inhaled nicotine or tobacco products in the population. Methods: Based on data from a national survey of 9644 people a...

Background and Aims Even though a ban of alcohol marketing has been declared a ‘best buy’ of alcohol control policy, comprehensive systematic reviews on its effectiveness to reduce consumption are lacking. The aim of this paper was to systematically review the evidence for effects of total and partial bans of alcohol marketing on alcohol consumptio...

Analyzing the activity data of 2007 Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) members in Barcelona between 2017 and 2020 we describe the demographics, the amounts of cannabis collected (.46 g/day amongst men; .37 for woman) and the relationships established with the CSCs: frequency of procurement (every 15.4 days for woman; 11.6 days for men); and membership le...

Aim Exploring trends in 1) alcohol-specific mortality and 2) alcohol sales in European countries in the years before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method Complete data on alcohol-specific mortality and alcohol sales were obtained for 14 European countries (13 EU countries and UK) for the years 2010 to 2020, with six countries having mortality...

Aims: To measure the current trends of cannabis use in Germany, measure trends in the proportion of heavy cannabis users and estimate future cannabis use rates. Design: Repeated waves of the Epidemiological Survey on Substance Abuse, a cross-sectional survey conducted between 1995 and 2021 with a two-stage participant selection strategy where re...

The aim of the study was to estimate unrecorded alcohol consumption in Lithuania for the period 2000–2021 using an indirect method for modelling consumption based on official consumption data and indicators of alcohol-related harm. Methodology employed for estimating the unrecorded alcohol consumption was proposed by Norström and was based on the c...

Alcohol use is a major risk factor for burden of disease. This narrative review aims to document the effects of major alcohol control policies, in particular taxation increases and availability restrictions in the three Baltic countries Review (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) between 2000 and 2020. These measures have been successful in curbing alc...

Zielsetzung: Ausgehend von der Veröffentlichung der dritten Ausgabe des Buchs „Alkohol: Kein gewöhnliches Konsumgut“ haben die Autor_innen die Umsetzung kosteneffektiver alkoholpolitischer Maßnahmen in Deutschland bewertet. Methodik: Aktuelle gesetzliche Regelungen und Praktiken zu Maßnahmen aus vier Bereichen wurden gesichtet: (1) Preispolitische...

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has been linked to changes in alcohol consumption, access to healthcare services and alcohol-attributable harm. In this contribution, we quantify changes in alcohol-specific mortality and hospitalizations at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 in Germany. Methods: We obtained monthly...

Background: Alcohol use can cause harm not only to the person who consumes it but also to others. Prior research has found that these alcohol-attributable harms to others differ across socioeconomic groups, though several findings have been contradictory. The aim of this contribution was to study the role of individual-level and population-level i...

Background: Using data from 33 European countries (including all EU member states), this study aimed to 1) estimate the prevalence of unrecorded alcohol use among past-week alcohol users, 2) describe how unrecorded alcohol use is associated with drinking patterns, and 3) estimate the contribution of unrecorded alcohol to the total amount of alcoho...

Background. For alcohol, regulating availability is an effective way to reduce consumption and harm. Similarly, the higher availability of medical cannabis dispensaries has been linked to increased cannabis consumption and harm. For recreational cannabis markets, such a link is suspected but still poorly understood. Methods: A systematic literature...

Background: Alcohol’s detrimental health effects do not affect everyone equally but accumulate in people with low socioeconomic status (SES). Using data from the 2021 Standard European Alcohol Survey, we explore gender- and SES-specific consumption patterns, and COVID-19 related changes in consumption across Europe. Methods: Cross-sectional populat...

Introduction: Cannabis social clubs (CSC) are community-based non-profit organisations that aim to minimise cannabis-related harm for their members. This contribution seeks to: (i) compare the cost of cannabis flower and resin in CSCs to the national average retail price on the illegal market; and (ii) identify possible quantity discounts for cann...

Background: Although the detrimental health effects of alcohol are well established, consumption levels are high in many high-income countries such as Germany. Improving alcohol health literacy presents an integrated approach to alcohol prevention and an important complement to alcohol policy. Our aim was to identify and prioritize measures to enh...

This report summarizes the empirical evidence of the effects of legalizing cannabis for recreational purposes

Background High-risk alcohol use is an established modifiable risk factor for dementia. However, prior reviews have not addressed sex differences in alcohol-related dementia risk. In this systematic review, we take a sex-specific perspective towards the alcohol-dementia link, taking into account the age of dementia onset. Methods We searched elect...

Objectives Cannabis use quantities are relevant for determining cannabis‐related harms. This research aims to provide an overview of the available methods to assess quantities through self‐report. Methods A rapid review of various strategies to collect information on cannabis use quantities through self‐report. Two independent literature searches...

Vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Diskussion um die kontrollierte Abgabe von Cannabis an Erwachsene zu Genusszwecken werden Auszüge aus Handlungsempfehlungen zur Legalisierung in Deutschland vorgestellt. Die Handlungsempfehlungen basieren auf einer systematischen Literaturanalyse, in der der wissenschaftlich-empirische Erkenntnisstand zu unterschie...

Given the causal impact of alcohol use on stroke, alcohol control policies should presumably reduce stroke mortality rates. This study aimed to test the impact of three major Lithuanian alcohol control policies implemented in 2008, 2017 and 2018 on sex- and stroke subtype-specific mortality rates, among individuals 15+ years-old. Joinpoint regressi...

In this work, reduction of alcoholic strength was discussed as a means to reduce consumption and alcohol-attributable harm. Statistical modelling was conducted to (1) estimate its potential for the largest six Western and Central European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, UK); (2) calculate the increase in taxation necessary to reac...

Zusammenfassung: Durch die Legalisierung ergeben sich zahlreiche Chancen, aber auch Unsicherheiten in Bezug auf Schadensminderung. Die Chancen liegen unter anderem in der verbesserten Aufklärung über gesundheitliche Risiken und in der Früherkennung von riskantem Cannabiskonsum. Weiterhin können die durch die Repression verursachten, umfangreichen S...

Recommendations for the legalisation of recreational cannabis, based on a systematic review of the literature

Background In Germany, most individuals with alcohol dependence are recognized by the health care system and about 16% per year receive addiction-specific care. This paper aimed to analyze the prevalence and treatment utilization rate of people with alcohol dependence by type of addiction-specific care in the federal state of Bremen using routine a...

Background Taxation increases which reduce the affordability of alcohol are expected to reduce mortality inequalities. A recent taxation increase in Lithuania offers the unique possibility to test this hypothesis. Methods Census-linked mortality data between 2011 and 2019 were used to calculate monthly sex- and education-stratified age-standardize...

Introduction: Alcohol screening, brief advice and referral to treatment (SBIRT) in primary health care is an effective strategy to decrease alcohol consumption at population level. However, there is relatively scarce evidence regarding its economic returns in non-high-income countries. The current paper aims to estimate the return-on-investment of...

Aims: To identify and classify the most important alcohol control policies in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and Poland between 2000 and 2020. Methods: Policy analysis of Baltic countries and Poland, predicting potential policy impact on alcohol consumption, all-cause mortality, and alcohol-attributable hospitalizations....

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic may have led to an increase in the alcohol-specific mortality. Against this backdrop, the aim of this report is to explore alcohol-specific mortality trends in Germany of the years 2010 to 2020. Method: Alcohol-specific mortality data aggregated by sex, 5-year age groups and state were collected from the annua...

Background: From a public health perspective, alcohol taxation should be designed to reduce alcohol affordability and thus alcohol consumption and related harms. Objectives: In this brief report, we estimate alcohol affordability in European Union Member States and associated countries and investigate whether affordability is related to national...

Introduction: Stigma towards alcohol-related conditions is more pronounced than stigma against any other mental illness and has remained high throughout past decades. Although alcohol consumption is a known and persistent contributor to the burden of disease and interpersonal threat and may thus shape public attitudes towards consumption, no study...

Background A classic methodology used in evaluating the impact of health policy interventions is interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis, applying a quasi-experimental design that uses both pre- and post-policy data without randomization. In this paper, we took a simulation-based approach to estimating intervention effects under different assumption...

Objective To assess the immediate impact of the introduction of minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland on alcohol consumption and whether the impact differed by sex, level of alcohol consumption, age, social grade and level of residential deprivation of respondents. Design Primary controlled interrupted time series analysis and secondary before-an...

Background and Aims In India, alcohol per capita consumption (APC) has substantially increased over the past 2 decades. While consumption does vary across the country, consistent state-level data are lacking. We aimed to identify all state-level alcohol exposure estimates since 2000 to a) model consistent current drinking (CD, 12 months) prevalence...

Aims: Due to large inconsistencies in previous studies, it remains unclear how alcohol use is related to health care utilization. The aim of this study was to examine associations between alcohol drinking status with utilization of outpatient and inpatient health care services in Germany. Methodology: Survey data of the GEDA 2014/2015-EHIS study wi...

Stigma and discrimination of people with substance use disorders (SUD) contribute massively to the harm done by their condition: stigma has negative effects on service engagement, life opportunities, and personal shame, both for those who struggle with substance abuse and their families. Overcoming the stigma of substance use disorders is essential...

Introduction: The year 2020 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Policy responses to COVID-19 affected social and economic life and the availability of alcohol. Previous research has shown an overall small decrease in alcohol use in Denmark in the first months of the pandemic. The present paper focused on identifying which subgroups of individuals...

Aim: To examine whether in Europe perceptions of 'alcoholism' differ in a discrete manner according to geographical area. Method: Secondary analysis of a data set from a European project carried out in 2013-2014 among 1767 patients treated in alcohol addiction units of nine countries/regions across Europe. The experience of all 11 DSM-4 criteria...

People with alcohol related liver disease (ALD) experience stigma and discrimination. This review summarizes the evidence on ALD stigma in healthcare and its implications for people with ALD, drawing from the literature on mental illness stigma and specifically the stigma of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Public stigma, self-stigma and structural stig...

Despite the growing body of evidence suggesting that alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of and poorer treatment outcomes from pneumonia, little is known about the association between alcohol control policy and pneumonia mortality. As such, this study aimed to assess the impact of three alcohol control policies legislated in 20...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Deutschland gehörte im Jahr 2019 zu den Ländern mit dem weltweit höchsten Pro-Kopf-Alkoholkonsum, welcher wesentlich zur Krankheitslast beiträgt. Fragestellung In dieser Modellierungsstudie schätzen wir, wie viele alkoholbedingte inzidente Krankheits- sowie Todesfälle in Deutschland im Jahr 2019 hätten vermieden werden...

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase of heavy alcohol use has been reported in several high-income countries. We examined changes in alcohol use during the pandemic among primary health care (PHC) patients in two middle income countries, Colombia and Mexico. Methods: Data were collected during routine consultations in 34 PHC cen...

Issues: Numerous studies have examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol use changes in Europe, with concerns raised regarding increased use and related harms. Approach: We synthesised observational studies published between 1 January 2020 and 31 September 2021 on self-reported changes in alcohol use associated with COVID-19. Electr...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic might impact substance use behaviours around the globe. In this study, we investigate changes in alcohol and tobacco use in the second half of 2020 in countries of the eastern part of the WHO European Region. Methods: Self-reported changes in alcohol and tobacco use among 11,295 adults from 18 countries in the e...

Background and Aims The relationship between alcohol consumption and liver cirrhosis is well established. Policies that can influence population-level use of alcohol should, in turn, impact liver cirrhosis. We examined the effect of population-level alcohol control policies on liver cirrhosis mortality rates in Lithuania – a high-income European Un...

Alcohol measurement in health care settings is an effective intervention for reducing alcohol-related harm. However, in many countries, costs related to alcohol measurement have not yet been transparently assessed, which may hinder its adoption and implementation. Costs of an alcohol measurement programme in three upper-middle-income Latin American...

Σκοπός: Η διερεύνηση των αλλαγών στην κατανάλωση αλκοόλ κατά τους πρώτους μήνες της πανδημίας COVID-19 στην Ευρώπη, καθώς και οι συσχετίσεις με το εισοδηματικό επίπεδο και τις εμπειρίες δυσφορίας που σχετίζονται με την πανδημία. Σχεδιασμός: Διαδικτυακή δημοσκοπική μελέτη που διεξήχθη μεταξύ 24 Απριλίου και 22 Ιουλίου 2020. Χώρος: Είκοσι μία ευρωπαϊ...

Objectives As unrecorded alcohol use contributes to a substantial burden of disease, this study characterises this phenomenon in newly independent states (NIS) of the former Soviet Union with regard to the sources of unrecorded alcohol, and the proportion of unrecorded of total alcohol consumption. We also investigate associated sociodemographic ch...

Introduction: Alcohol use is a major risk factor for mortality. Previous studies suggest that the alcohol-attributable mortality burden is higher in lower socioeconomic strata. This project will test the hypothesis that the 2017 increase of alcohol excise taxes linked to lower all-cause mortality rates in previous analyses will reduce socioeconomi...

Aims: To determine the effect of an alcohol policy change, which increased the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) from 18 years of age to 20 years of age on all-cause mortality rates in young adults (18-19 years old) in Lithuania. Methods: An interrupted time series analysis was conducted on a dataset from 2001 to 2019 (n = 228 months). The model...

Objective It is reasonable to believe that the alcohol policy environment can impact the suicide mortality rates in a given country, considering the well-known link between alcohol use and death by suicide. The current literature, albeit limited, suggests that an increase in alcohol taxation may result in a decrease in deaths by suicide and that th...

This paper explores trends in beverage preference in adolescents, identifies related regional differences, and examines cluster differences in key drinking measures. Data were obtained from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), covering 24 European countries between 1999 and 2019. Trends in the distribution of alcoh...

Evidence suggests that changes in alcohol consumption during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic were unevenly distributed over consumer groups. We investigated possible inter-country differences in how changes in alcohol consumption are contingent on initial consumption (before or at the start of the pandemic), and how changes in consumption...

Background The lack of an agreed international minimum approach to measuring cannabis use hinders the integration of multidisciplinary evidence on the psychosocial, neurocognitive, clinical and public health consequences of cannabis use. Methods A group of 25 international expert cannabis researchers convened to discuss a multidisciplinary framewo...

Background Cannabis is one of the most widely used substances worldwide. Heavy use is associated with an increased risk of cannabis use disorders, psychotic disorders, acute cognitive impairment, traffic injuries, respiratory problems, worse pregnancy outcomes, and there are indications for genotoxic and epigenotoxic adverse effects. International...

Background: Cannabis is the third most consumed drug worldwide. Thus, healthcare providers should be able to identify users who are in need for an intervention. This study aims to explore the relationship of acute, chronic, and early exposure (AE, CE, and EE) to cannabis with cognitive and behavioral harms (CBH), as a first step toward defining ris...

Introduction Implementation of evidence-based care for heavy drinking and depression remains low in global health systems. We tested the impact of providing community support, training, and clinical packages of varied intensity on depression screening and management for heavy drinking patients in Latin American primary healthcare. Materials and me...

Background Screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is a programme to reduce alcohol consumption for drinkers with high alcohol consumption levels. Only 2.9% of patients in primary health care (PHC) are screened for their alcohol use in Germany, despite high levels of alcohol consumption and attributable harm. We developed an...

Background Brief interventions (BI) for risky drinkers in primary healthcare have been demonstrated to be cost-effective but they are still poorly implemented. Digital BI seems to be a complementary strategy to overcome some barriers to implementation but there is a scarcity of studies in clinical environments. We present the results of a randomize...

Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for premature mortality. Although alcohol control policies are known to impact all-cause mortality rates, the effect that policies have on specific age groups is an important area of research. This study investigates the effect of alcohol control policies implemented in 2009 and 2017 in Lithuania on all-ca...

Im Jahr 2020 ist der Absatz von Bier stärker zurückgegangen, als erwartet. Umfragedaten zeigen, dass sich der Alkoholkonsum bei etwa der Hälfte der Befragten verändert und vor allem bei denjenigen zugenommen hat, die bereits vor der Pandemie hohe Trinkmengen berichteten. Weiterhin haben sich (teil-)stationäre Behandlungszahlen insgesamt stark reduz...

Objective: To validate a Russian-language version of the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Methods: We invited 2173 patients from 21 rural and urban primary health-care centres in nine Russian regions to participate in the study (143 declined and eight were excluded). In a standardized interview, patient...

Aims To investigate changes in alcohol consumption during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe as well as its associations with income and experiences of distress related to the pandemic. Design Cross-sectional on-line survey conducted between 24 April and 22 July 2020. Setting Twenty-one European countries. Participants A total o...

Im aktuellen Besteuerungsmodell werden Bier und Wein deutlich subventioniert. Der Anstieg der Erschwinglichkeit alkoholischer Getränke in der letzten Dekade hätte durch eine einheitliche und an Veränderungen des Haushalteinkommens angepasste Steuerpolitik verhindert werden können. Europäische Nachbarländer zeigen, dass der Konsum von Alkohol und di...

Die weit verbreitete Annahme, dass moderater Alkoholkonsum günstige Effekte auf die Gesundheit hat, ist irreführend und nicht evidenzbasiert. Aus der Literatur wird deutlich, dass der regelmäßige Konsum geringer Mengen Alkohol das Risiko für verschiedene Krebserkrankungen erhöht. Es gibt also keinen gesundheitlich unbedenklichen Alkoholkonsum. Gesu...