T M Caldwell1, B Rodgers, C Power, C Clark, S A Stansfeld. 1. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia. Tanya.Caldwell@anu.edu.au
Abstract
AIMS: To investigate the validity of retrospective items used to distinguish people who have rarely or never consumed alcohol. METHODS: The 1958 British Birth Cohort Study has followed 9377 individuals until age 45. Previous drinking (at 16, 23, 33 and 42 years) was investigated for two groups of 45-year-old non-drinkers, those reporting never having consumed alcohol ('never drinkers', n = 143, 1.5%), and having only consumed very infrequently ('occasional-only drinkers', n = 1149, 12.3%). RESULTS: 67% of never drinkers previously reported drinking, 25% were past weekly/daily drinkers; 56% of occasional-only drinkers reported weekly/daily consumption. The validity of the retrospective items was progressively questionable when presumed to cover longer time periods. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial measurement error was evident when identifying 'occasional-only' and 'never' drinkers using retrospective items covering the lifecourse. Researchers investigating potential health benefits associated with moderate drinking need to incorporate more sophisticated methods when identifying sub-groups of non-drinkers.
AIMS: To investigate the validity of retrospective items used to distinguish people who have rarely or never consumed alcohol. METHODS: The 1958 British Birth Cohort Study has followed 9377 individuals until age 45. Previous drinking (at 16, 23, 33 and 42 years) was investigated for two groups of 45-year-old non-drinkers, those reporting never having consumed alcohol ('never drinkers', n = 143, 1.5%), and having only consumed very infrequently ('occasional-only drinkers', n = 1149, 12.3%). RESULTS: 67% of never drinkers previously reported drinking, 25% were past weekly/daily drinkers; 56% of occasional-only drinkers reported weekly/daily consumption. The validity of the retrospective items was progressively questionable when presumed to cover longer time periods. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial measurement error was evident when identifying 'occasional-only' and 'never' drinkers using retrospective items covering the lifecourse. Researchers investigating potential health benefits associated with moderate drinking need to incorporate more sophisticated methods when identifying sub-groups of non-drinkers.
Authors: William C Kerr; Yu Ye; Thomas K Greenfield; Edwina Williams; E Anne Lown; Camillia K Lui Journal: Alcohol Alcohol Date: 2016-06-29 Impact factor: 2.826
Authors: William C Kerr; Camillia K Lui; Edwina Williams; Yu Ye; Thomas K Greenfield; E Anne Lown Journal: Alcohol Clin Exp Res Date: 2017-01-07 Impact factor: 3.455
Authors: Michael Roerecke; Thomas K Greenfield; William C Kerr; Susan Bondy; Joanna Cohen; Jürgen Rehm Journal: Int J Epidemiol Date: 2011-09-23 Impact factor: 7.196
Authors: Xiaoxin I Yao; Michael Y Ni; Felix Cheung; Joseph T Wu; C Mary Schooling; Gabriel M Leung; Herbert Pang Journal: CMAJ Date: 2019-07-08 Impact factor: 8.262