Institute of Social Medicine and Prevention, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
German Center for Cardiovascular Research, Partner Site Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
PLoS One. 2019 Jun 4;14(6):e0217595. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217595. eCollection 2019.
Underreporting of alcohol consumption is one of the major challenges in survey research including self-reports. The aim of this study was to test whether underreporting can be reduced by prompting respondents to first reflect on their drinking in the past week and then answer quantity-frequency based screening questions on their typical alcohol use. Data come from 2,379 adults (54% female; mean age = 31.8 years, SD = 11.4 years) consecutively recruited at a local registration office in northeastern Germany. Participants responded to an electronic, self-administered questionnaire on different health behaviors. They were randomized to receiving the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) either before or after the assessment of past week timeline follow-back questions. Logistic regression models were calculated predicting positive screening results for at-risk drinking. Potential interaction effects with gender, age and educational background were explored. Results show that the assessment of past week alcohol consumption prior to the assessment of the AUDIT-C reduced the odds of obtaining positive screening results (OR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.70-0.99). There were no interaction effects with gender, age and educational background. As a secondary finding, participants reported consistently lower alcohol consumption in the alcohol measure that was administered later in the questionnaire. Preceding questions about alcohol consumption in the past week reduced the probability of positive screening results for at-risk drinking. Our findings suggest that prompting people to recall past week alcohol use prior to screening may not be a solution to reduce underreporting.
饮酒量少报是包括自我报告在内的调查研究中的主要挑战之一。本研究的目的是测试通过提示受访者首先反思他们在过去一周的饮酒情况，然后回答关于他们典型饮酒习惯的数量-频率筛查问题，是否可以减少少报现象。数据来自德国东北部当地注册处连续招募的 2379 名成年人（54%为女性；平均年龄为 31.8 岁，标准差为 11.4 岁）。参与者对不同的健康行为回答了电子、自我管理的问卷。他们被随机分配到在过去一周时间线回溯问题评估之前或之后接受酒精使用障碍识别测试-消费（AUDIT-C）。计算了预测有风险饮酒的阳性筛查结果的逻辑回归模型。探索了与性别、年龄和教育背景的潜在交互作用。结果表明，在评估 AUDIT-C 之前评估过去一周的饮酒情况，降低了获得阳性筛查结果的几率（OR = 0.83；95%CI = 0.70-0.99）。与性别、年龄和教育背景没有交互作用。作为次要发现，参与者在问卷中较晚进行的酒精测量中报告的酒精摄入量持续较低。在筛查前询问过去一周的饮酒情况减少了有风险饮酒的阳性筛查结果的可能性。我们的研究结果表明，在筛查前提示人们回忆过去一周的饮酒情况可能不是减少少报的解决方案。
