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Affiliation
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Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, University of Victoria, BC, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, BC, Canada. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND AND AIM: Adjustments for under-reporting in alcohol surveys have been used in epidemiological and policy studies which assume that all drinkers underestimate their consumption equally. This study aims to describe a method of estimating how under-reporting of alcohol consumption might vary by age, gender and consumption level.
METHOD: The Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey (CADUMS) 2008 to 2010 (N= 43,371) asks about beverage specific 'yesterday' consumption (BSY) and Quantity-Frequency (QF). Observed drinking frequencies for different age and gender groups were calculated from BSY and used to correct values of F in QF. Beverage-specific correction factors for quantity (Q) were calculated by comparing consumption estimated from BSY with sales data.
RESULTS: Drinking frequency was underestimated by males (Z=24.62, p<0.001) and females (Z=17.46, p<0.001) in the QF as assessed by comparing with frequency and quantity of Yesterday drinking. Spirits consumption was underestimated by 65.94% compared with sales data, wine by 38.35% and beer by 49.02%. After adjusting Q and F values accordingly, regression analysis found alcohol consumption to be under-estimated significantly more by younger drinkers (e.g.82.9 ±1.19% for underage drinkers vs 70.38 ±1.54% for those 65+, p<0.001) and by low risk more than high risk drinkers (76.25 ±0.34% vs 49.22 ±3.01%, p<0.001). Under-reporting did not differ by gender.
CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol consumption surveys can use the Beverage-Specific Yesterday method to correct for underreporting of consumption among sub-groups. Alcohol consumption among Canadians appears to be under-reported to an equal degree by men and women. Younger drinkers underreport alcohol consumption to a greater degree than do older, while low risk drinkers underestimate more than do medium and high-risk.
Language: en |