Publication details
Metodika měření konzumace alkoholu v epidemiologických studiích rizikových faktorů neinfekčních onemocnění a projekt Kardiovize 2030
| Title in English | Methodology for measurement of alcohol consumption in epidemiological studies of risk factors of non-communicable diseases and the project Kardiovize 2030 |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Hygiena |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Hygiene |
| Keywords | epideiological study; cardiovascular diseases; alcohol consumption |
| Description | 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 epidemiologic 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 also includes an assessment of alcohol consumption and its effect, in relation to all significant cardiovascular clinical parameters, but also in relation to other lifestyle factors such as nutrition, physical activity and smoking. For this purpose, a new questionnaire tool was created, and the article describes the appropriate starting point in the form of an overview of existing approaches to measuring alcohol consumption, issues regarding the content of alcohol in different beverages and alcohol units, and alcohol questionnaire itself in detail. It has only 7 items and is very compact, yet completely covers the relatively long time-period, divided into sections of the questionnaire dealing with the last year, month and week. Weekly recall is beverage specific and even specific by the days of week; quantification of the volume is solved 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 more than 1,000 randomly selected inhabitants of Brno was examined by this alcohol questionnaire and by the whole complex lifestyle and clinical examinations, when the objective is to investigate a total of at least 2,000 people. Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to the measurement of alcohol consumption are discussed. Our questionnaire fully proved for the intended purpose, and we can recommend it for use in other epidemiological studies. |