Variations in quantity-frequency measures of alcohol consumption from a general population survey

This paper examines differences in quantity-frequency (QF) measures of alcohol consumption from the 1988 US National Health Interview Survey. Three methods--global QF, beverage-specific QF, and beverage-specific QF with drink size (QFS)--were used to estimate the average daily ethanol consumption (ADC) of current drinkers. These ADC estimates then were used to categorize drinkers into light, moderate or heavier drinking levels. Total prevalence estimates of heavier drinking were not significantly different among men, but were significantly higher with the QFS measure among women. All mean ADC scores were significantly different for both sexes. The global QF showed the lowest mean consumption, followed by the higher beverage-specific QF and QFS measures. Adding beverage type and drink size to the QF measures increased mean ADC scores for both men and women. However, moderately high correlations (0.84 for men and 0.88 for women) were found with ADC scores from the beverage-specific QF and QFS measures.