Sobell L C, Cellucci T, Nirenberg T D, Sobell M B
Am J Public Health. 1982 Aug;72(8):823-8. doi: 10.2105/ajph.72.8.823.
Identifying health impairment related to ethanol consumption is one of the major objectives of public health research. The most frequently used method for assessing drinking behavior in public health surveys and related research has been estimation formulae, like the Quantity-Frequency (QF) method which derives an estimate of typical/average levels of daily consumption. In recent years, questions have arisen as to whether the QF method can accurately reflect actual drinking patterns. This study compares a QF method of assessing daily drinking behavior with a newer, more quantitative method (Time-Line, TL) of assessing daily drinking. The QF and TL methods yielded similar mean daily ethanol consumption levels; however, in contrast to the TL method, the QF method seriously masked subjects' actual drinking patterns by failing to identify certain types of ethanol consumption days, especially those thought to be associated with health risks. These findings, while provocative, were obtained with a small number of subjects (N = 40). Extrapolation to populations other than problem drinkers, while likely, awaits further empirical validation.
识别与乙醇消费相关的健康损害是公共卫生研究的主要目标之一。在公共卫生调查及相关研究中，评估饮酒行为最常用的方法是估算公式，比如数量-频率（QF）法，该方法可得出每日典型/平均消费量的估算值。近年来，关于QF法能否准确反映实际饮酒模式的问题引发了诸多讨论。本研究将评估每日饮酒行为的QF法与一种更新的、更具量化性的评估每日饮酒的方法（时间线，TL）进行了比较。QF法和TL法得出的每日乙醇平均消费水平相似；然而，与TL法不同的是，QF法未能识别某些类型的乙醇消费日，尤其是那些被认为与健康风险相关的日子，从而严重掩盖了受试者的实际饮酒模式。这些发现虽然具有启发性，但样本数量较少（N = 40）。虽然可能适用于问题饮酒者以外的人群，但仍需进一步的实证验证。
