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BACKGROUND: Previous research has identified important relationships between higher retail alcohol density and higher proportions of families living below the federal poverty level and women with lower education attainment. Neighborhood off-premise alcohol outlet density has also been found to be strongly associated with reduced social capital. The purpose of our study is to assess the impact of population change on the number of liquor licenses issued and to explore associations between alcohol outlet density in Wayne County, Michigan with social determinants of health.
METHODS: Wayne County liquor license data from 2010 were obtained from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. Information on social characteristics, such as percent of population unemployed, and demographic factors, such as median age and race/ethnicity composition, were obtained for each Wayne County municipality from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. Only off- and on-premise license types with population quota limits were included in this analysis. The density ratio of off- and on-premise alcohol establishments was categorized into three groups; undersaturation (number of licenses issued < population quota), saturation (number of licenses issued = the population quota) or oversaturation (number of licenses issued > population quota). Ordinal logistic regression was conducted using SAS 9.2 to assess which social and demographic factors were associated with an oversaturation of on- and off-premise alcohol outlets.
RESULTS: Despite an 11.7% population loss from 2000 to 2010, the number of licenses available in Wayne County remained constant. Thirty percent of municipalities had an oversaturation of on-premise alcohol establishments and more than 40% of municipalities had an oversaturation of off-premise alcohol retailers. Holding all other variables constant, the probability of a municipality being oversaturated with off-premise liquor licenses was four times higher when that municipality had the highest quartile of unemployment. The probability of off-premise liquor license oversaturation was also two times higher in municipalities which had a high proportion of Latinos residing in their community. A large proportion of Latinos residing in a municipality increased the probability of oversaturation of on-premise establishments by 1.9 times, holding all other factors constant.
CONCLUSIONS: A large number of municipalities located in Wayne County, Michigan were oversaturated with liquor licenses. Further analyses, including license types that do not have a population quota restriction, should be included conducted to assess the true impact of saturation density on muncipialities. To reduce and prevent harms associated with the oversaturation of alcohol outlets, communities can implement Community Guide recommendations, such as regulating alcohol outlet density.