title: The reliability of self-reported alcohol consumption in the remote past.
abstract: We examined the reliability of self-reported alcohol consumption in past age periods of women's lives. As part of a case-control study of breast cancer conducted in Massachusetts and Wisconsin in 1988-1991, the same questionnaire was administered for a second time to 211 controls (mean age = 54 years) after an interval of 6-12 months. The Spearman correlation coefficients between the average number of grams of alcohol consumed daily reported in the two interviews, by age period of consumption, were: 16-19 years, r = 0.81; 20-29 years, r = 0.84; 30-39 years, r = 0.75; and for recent consumption, r = 0.77. Self-reported alcohol consumption throughout adult life was reported with precision sufficient to make the ranking of subjects' intake consistent between interviews.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health 90024.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Longnecker
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Newcomb
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mittendorf
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Clapp
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bogdan
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Willett
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: MacMahon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology