Test-Retest Reliability of the Cognitive Lifetime Drinking History

Abstract

A new measure of lifetime alcohol consumption, the Cognitive Lifetime Drinking History (CLDH) uses beverage-specific questions on drink sizes and assesses drinking patterns to enhance recall. Two methods of establishing drinking intervals were examined: 1) floating--the respondent's report of when drinking changed, and 2) fixed--defined in terms of decades. Test-retest reliability for lifetime ounces of alcohol consumed and times intoxicated in lifetime estimated at visits 1 week or more apart was assessed in postmyocardial infarction patients (n = 81) and controls (n = 138) who had had at least 12 drinks in a year during their lifetimes. No significant differences in estimates of lifetime ounces of alcohol or times intoxicated were observed. Spearman's r ranged between 0.85 and 0.92 for the floating and fixed versions of the CLDH administered at a single visit and between 0.74 and 0.85 for the floating or fixed administered at both visits. Time between visits did not influence correlations. Intervals reported on the floating CLDH were comparable for postmyocardial infarction patients and controls. It took approximately 5 minutes longer to administer the floating CLDH than the fixed CLDH. Findings support use of the CLDH for case-control studies and suggest that the floating and fixed versions would yield comparable results.

Relationship of Life-Course Drinking Patterns to Diabetes, Heart Problems, and Hypertension Among Those 40 and Older in the 2005 U.S. National Alcohol Survey

“…The recent fi nding-that including diet measures in models of diabetes risk biased results toward a smaller protective effect (Imamura et al, 2009)-suggests that including dietary measures would not have eliminated our fi ndings regarding diabetes. Although alcohol-consumption patterns are assessed through multiple and detailed questions in the 2005 National Alcohol Survey, the lifetime measures used in the analyses are retrospective and may, therefore, be subject to recall bias downward (Caldwell et al, 2006;Lemmens et al, 1997;Rehm et al, 2008;Russell et al, 1997), leading to some degree of misclassifi cation. Because of sample-size limitations, we are not able to estimate separate models by gender or race/ethnicity group.…”

Alcohol measurement methodology in epidemiology: recent advances and opportunities

“…For example, cumulative life-time consumption based on a more elaborate, time-consuming 'floating' format involving potential changes in drinking associated with important life events, specifically recalled, correlated in the 0.80s or high 0.70s with equivalent measures derived from a simpler 'fixed' version asking about decades of life [134]. Thus, survey applications of the simpler, fixed period-based variety are feasible [3,135].…”

Hispanic Americans Baseline Alcohol Survey (HABLAS): Effects of Container Size Adjustments on Estimates of Alcohol Consumption Across Hispanic National Groups

“…Adjusted volumes based on container size and pour level were estimated with a photographic method adapted from Russell et al (1997). Although pouring methods (e.g., Kerr et al, 2009) have been shown to be most accurate, photographic methods are a suffi cient alternative when time or resource constraints preclude more involved approaches (see Kaskutas and Kerr, 2008, for a validation study).…”