Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on October 7, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2006 41(6):650-654; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl088
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RAPID COMMUNICATION
DRINKING HISTORIES OF SELF-IDENTIFIED LIFETIME ABSTAINERS AND OCCASIONAL DRINKERS: FINDINGS FROM THE 1958 BRITISH BIRTH COHORT STUDY
1 National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 2 Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Child Health, University College, 3 Centre for Psychiatry, Barts and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia 0200; Tel.: +61 2 6125 7839; Fax: +61 2 6125 0740; E-mail: Tanya.Caldwell{at}anu.edu.au
(Received 21 May 2006; in revised form 12 July 2006 and 18 August 2006; accepted 5 September 2006)
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.
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