The UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy and childhood hospital admissions for asthma in England

Sugar sweetened beverage consumption has been suggested as a risk factor for childhood asthma symptoms. We examined whether the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), announced in March 2016 and implemented in April 2018, was associated with changes in National Health Service hospital admission rates...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2024-06, Vol.15 (1), p.4934-7
Main Authors: Rogers, Nina T., Cummins, Steven, Jones, Catrin P., Mytton, Oliver T., Roberts, Chrissy H., Shaheen, Seif O., Shah, Syed Ahmar, Sheikh, Aziz, White, Martin, Adams, Jean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
692/499
692/699/1785/31
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Adolescent
Asthma
Asthma - epidemiology
Asthma - etiology
Beverages
Carbonated Beverages - adverse effects
Carbonated Beverages - economics
Carbonated Beverages - statistics & numerical data
Child
Child, Preschool
Childhood
Children
Childrens health
Deprivation
England - epidemiology
Female
Health services
Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data
Hospitals
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Incidence
Interrupted Time Series Analysis
Male
multidisciplinary
Patient admissions
Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology
Public health
Risk Factors
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Signs and symptoms
Soft drink industry
Soft drinks
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages - adverse effects
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages - economics
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages - statistics & numerical data
Taxes - economics
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Summary:Sugar sweetened beverage consumption has been suggested as a risk factor for childhood asthma symptoms. We examined whether the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), announced in March 2016 and implemented in April 2018, was associated with changes in National Health Service hospital admission rates for asthma in children, 22 months post-implementation of SDIL. We conducted interrupted time series analyses (2012-2020) to measure changes in monthly incidence rates of hospital admissions. Sub-analysis was by age-group (5-9,10-14,15-18 years) and neighbourhood deprivation quintiles. Changes were relative to counterfactual scenarios where the SDIL wasn’t announced, or implemented. Overall, incidence rates reduced by 20.9% (95%CI: 29.6-12.2). Reductions were similar across age-groups and deprivation quintiles. These findings give support to the idea that implementation of a UK tax intended to reduce childhood obesity may have contributed to a significant unexpected and additional public health benefit in the form of reduced hospital admissions for childhood asthma. Asthma is one of the most common diseases in childhood and for which the UK has the highest mortality rates in Europe. Here, the authors show that the UK soft drinks industry levy was linked with a fall in hospital admissions for asthma in children
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-49120-4