title: Validity of two questions on alcohol use in a health survey questionnaire.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether consumers of high and low levels of alcohol could be identified by two questions about alcohol use in a postal questionnaire survey. A sample of 2,300 persons aged 18 64 years from Stockholm county were sent a masked postal questionnaire comprising 30 questions about their health and functioning. Two questions concerned their alcohol consumption. One year later the subjects underwent a psychiatric health examination, which included an assessment of their alcohol use. The two questions about alcohol consumption identified high alcohol consumers with a relatively high sensitivity and specificity, of 64% and 87%, respectively, and thus are useful for identifying high alcohol consumers in health surveys using questionnaires.
authors.affiliation: Family Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. holger.theobald@cnsf.ki.se
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Theobald
authors.forename: L O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Bygren
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carstensen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Engfeldt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology