Recent alcohol intake as estimated by the health habits and history questionnaire, the Harvard Semiquantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire, and a more detailed alcohol intake questionnaire

Epidemiologic studies often rely on food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) to collect information on alcoholic beverage intake. However, estimation of a lcohol intake using FFQs may be of some concern because of limited question s concerning alcohol intake. The authors compared estimates of alcohol inta ke during the 12-24 months prior to interview obtained from the Health Habi ts and History Questionnaire and the Harvard Semiquantitative Food Frequenc y Questionnaire with those from a more extensive alcohol questionnaire, the Drinking Pattern Questionnaire, among 133 healthy subjects (75 men, 58 wom en) aged 35-73 years, residents of western New York State. Data were collec ted in 1995 during two separate interviewer-administered computer-assisted interviews conducted approximately 2 weeks apart. For each questionnaire, a verage daily ounces (1 oz = 30 ml) of alcohol intake from alcoholic beverag es were calculated as the product of the reported beverage-specific drink s ize (ounces) and the average daily frequency of intake multiplied by a fact or representing the percentage of alcohol provided by each beverage. Estima tes of total alcohol and liquor intake, but not of beer and wine intake, te nded to be higher for the Drinking Pattern Questionnaire compared with the FFQs. Spearman's correlation coefficients ranged from 0.69 to 0.84. These r esults suggest that although the Drinking Pattern Questionnaire produced hi gher estimates than either FFQ, both FFQs provide a reasonable ranking of p articipants' alcohol intake.