title: Self-report reliability and symptomatology of habitual caffeine consumption.
abstract: 1. A large body of research on the demography of caffeine use and its potential health consequences has been undermined by the absence of empirical data on the reliability of retrospective self-reports of caffeine consumption. 2. The principal aim of the present study was to use standard bioanalytic method to assess the reliability of subjects' self-reported caffeine use. Saliva samples were obtained from 142 first-and second-year medical students and assayed for caffeine and paraxanthine. 3. Self-reported caffeine use was found to be significantly correlated with salivary caffeine (r = 0.31, P less than 0.001) and paraxanthine (r = 0.42, P less than 0.001), thereby providing qualified support for use of questionnaires to estimate patterns of caffeine consumption. 4. A secondary aim of the study was to extend previous research concerning the symptomatology of caffeine use by examining the association between caffeine exposure and a variety of measures of somatic and psychological health. Caffeine consumption was reliably associated with the self-reported occurrence of somatic symptoms, but not psychological well-being.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Lader
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Scott
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D002110:Caffeine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012107:Research Design; D012463:Saliva / Q000032:analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D014970:Xanthines / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014970:Xanthines; D002110:Caffeine