title: Mean-weekly alcohol questions are not recommended for clinical work.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate middle-aged men's willingness to answer short, clinically feasible alcohol-related questions and to discuss changing their drinking habits.
  
  
  METHODS
  All 45-year-old male inhabitants of the city of Tampere, Finland, were invited to a health screening. Of these, 664 (55.1%) agreed to participate and 615 drank alcohol. The mailed health questionnaire also included mean-weekly (M-W), quantity-frequency (Q-F) and structured frequency-quantity (AUDIT-FQ) questions based on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Based on the Q-F, drinkers were classified as moderate, risky and heavy episodic drinkers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Q-F was answered by 90.2%, the AUDIT by 96.6% and the M-W by 45.5%. In all drinker categories, Q-F gave higher consumption levels compared with M-W and AUDIT-FQ. Willingness to discuss and change alcohol drinking was low in all drinker categories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Choosing a method preferred by patients may increase their willingness to talk about alcohol. Also, a method giving high consumption values may be the most truthful, because patients often underestimate their drinking. This is why Q-F questions should be favoured over M-W and AUDIT-FQ in patient interviews.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Tampere, Tampere FIN-33014 Finland. mervi.tuunanen@uta.fi
authors.forename: Mervi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tuunanen
authors.forename: Mauri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aalto
authors.forename: Kaija
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seppä
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000175:diagnosis; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires