Estimating under- and over-reporting of drinking in national surveys of alcohol consumption: Identification of consistent biases across four English-speaking countries
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Questions about drinking " yesterday" have been used to correct under-reporting of typical alcohol consumption in surveys. We use this method to explore patterns of over- and under-reporting of drinking quantity and frequency by population sub-groups in four countries.
DESIGN: Multivariate linear regression analyses comparing estimates of typical quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption with and without adjustments using the Yesterday method. Setting and participants Survey respondents in Australia (n = 26,648), Canada (n = 43,370), USA (n = 7,969) and England (n = 8,610).
MEASUREMENTS: Estimates of typical drinking quantities and frequencies over the past year plus quantity of alcohol consumed the previous day. FINDINGS: Typical frequency was underestimated by less frequent drinkers in each country. For example, after adjustment for design effects and age, Australian males self reporting drinking "less than once a month" were estimated to have in fact drunk an average of 14.70 (+/-0.59) days in the past year compared with the standard assumption of 6 days (t = 50.5, p < 0.001). Drinking quantity " yesterday" was not significantly different overall from self-reported typical quantities over the past year in Canada, USA and England but slightly lower in Australia (e.g. 2.66 vs 3.04 drinks, t = 20.4, p < 0.01 for women).
CONCLUSIONS: People who describe themselves as less frequent drinkers appear substantially to under-report their drinking frequency, but country and sub-group specific corrections can be estimated. Detailed questions using the Yesterday method can correct under-reporting of quantity of drinking.
Additional Info
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Authors
Stockwell T.; Zhao J.; Greenfield T.; Li J.; Livingston M.; Meng Y. -
Issue
Addiction. 2016 Mar 7. doi: 10.1111/add.13373. [Epub ahead of print] -
Published Date
7 march 2016
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