Hygiena 2014, 59(4):167-178 | DOI: 10.21101/hygiena.a1288

Methodology for Measurement of Alcohol Consumption in Epidemiological Studies of Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases and the Kardiovize 2030 Project

Jindřich Fiala1,2, Ondřej Sochor2
1 Masarykova univerzita, Lékařská fakulta, Ústav ochrany a podpory zdraví, Brno
2 Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny v Brně, Mezinárodní centrum klinického výzkumu, Brno

Alcohol is one of the most important determinants of health, while its consumption in the Czech Republic is one of the highest in the world. Measuring alcohol consumption in epidemiological studies of risk factors of non-communicable diseases is therefore highly desirable. In Brno, an extensive cardiovascular project, organized by the International Centre for Clinical Research (ICRC) in cooperation with Masaryk University, is currently in progress. It includes an assessment of alcohol consumption and its effects in relation to all significant cardiovascular clinical parameters, but also in relation to other lifestyle factors such as nutrition, physical activity and smoking. A new questionnaire tool was created for this purpose; the article describes the appropriate starting point in the form of an overview of existing approaches to measuring alcohol consumption and detailed breakdown of issues regarding the content of alcohol in different beverages and alcohol units, and the alcohol questionnaire as such. The questionnaire contains 7 items only and is very compact despite its coverage of a relatively long time-period, divided into sections covering the preceding year, month and weekly timespans. Weekly recall is beverage specific and even specific by weekdays; quantification of ingested volume is described by means of alcohol units. The section focusing on longer time-periods should identify irregular binge drinking, and determine the overall pattern of consumption. At the time of writing this article, a sample of over 1,000 randomly selected inhabitants of Brno was examined with this alcohol questionnaire and by a complex of lifestyle and clinical examinations, with the objective of involving a total of at least 2,000 subjects. Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to the measurement of alcohol consumption are discussed. Our questionnaire fulfilled the intended purpose, and we can recommend it for use in other epidemiological studies.

Keywords: epidemiological study, cardiovascular diseases, alcohol consumption

Received: January 2014; Accepted: March 13, 2014; Published: December 1, 2014  Show citation

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Fiala J, Sochor O. Methodology for Measurement of Alcohol Consumption in Epidemiological Studies of Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases and the Kardiovize 2030 Project. Hygiena. 2014;59(4):167-178. doi: 10.21101/hygiena.a1288.
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