title: Risky single-occasion drinking and disadvantaged men: will recruitment through primary care miss hazardous drinkers?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Men who are socially disadvantaged are at a substantially higher risk of developing alcohol-related diseases. People from deprived areas are known to be more difficult to recruit to research studies. As part of a feasibility assessment for an intervention study, 2 recruitment strategies were investigated. This article compares the drinking patterns of the disadvantaged men identified by the 2 strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey compared 2 strategies for recruiting disadvantaged men to a study on alcohol consumption: recruitment through general practice (GP) registers and through a community outreach strategy, respondent-driven sampling (RDS). Men aged 25 to 44 years were recruited from deprived areas in the community. The entry criterion was binge drinking (≥8 units in a single session) at least twice in the previous 4 weeks. Demographic characteristics, total consumption of alcohol, frequency of binge drinking (≥8 units in a session), and heavy binge drinking (≥16 units in a session) were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Men recruited by RDS drank more than twice as much as the men recruited through GP (137 units in the previous 30 days compared with 62 units; p = 0.003). They also had many more binge drinking days: more than half (57%) of men from RDS had 6 or more binge drinking days in the previous 30 days, whereas only 16% of the GP sample had 6 or more binge drinking days (p = 0.001). Many more men recruited by RDS (37% vs. 5%; p = 0.002) had more than 5 very heavy drinking sessions in the previous month (≥16 units in a session). The RDS group also had fewer alcohol-free days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 2 sampling strategies recruited different types of drinkers. The men recruited through RDS were much more likely to engage in frequent harmful drinking. The results indicate that the 2 methods recruit different samples of disadvantaged men. Intervention studies that are only conducted through primary care may miss many harmful drinkers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, School of Medicine , University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Iain K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Crombie
authors.forename: Donald W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Falconer
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Irvine
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Norrie
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Slane
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D063425:Binge Drinking / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Binge Drinking; Inequalities; Risky Single-Occasion Drinking