@article{ref1,
title="Subjective measures of binge drinking and alcohol-specific adverse health outcomes: A prospective cohort study",
journal="Addiction",
year="2012",
author="Paljarvi, Tapio and Makela, Pia and Poikolainen, Kari and Suominen, Sakari and Car, Josip and Koskenvuo, Markku",
volume="107",
number="2",
pages="323-330",
abstract="Aim: To determine the performance of subjectively defined intoxications, hangovers, and alcohol-induced pass-outs in identifying drinkers at risk for adverse health outcomes. Design: Prospective population-based cohort study. Setting: Working-aged Finnish general population. Participants: 21 204 alcohol-drinking men and women aged 20-24, 30-34, 40-44 and 50-54 years at baseline who participated in the Health and Social Support (HeSSup) postal survey in 1998. Measurements: Binge drinking was measured by subjectively defined intoxications/drunkenness, hangovers, and alcohol-induced pass-outs. Hazardous drinking was defined according to Finnish guidelines as weekly total intake of >287 grams of ethanol for men, and for women >191 grams of ethanol (≥24 and ≥16 standard drinks, respectively). Study participants were followed-up for seven years for alcohol-specific hospitalizations and deaths. Proportional hazard models and areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves (AUC) were used to analyse the data. Findings: 6.5% exceeded the weekly limit for hazardous drinking, and 1.5% experienced the alcohol-specific endpoint during the follow-up. Subjective intoxications, hangovers, and alcohol-induced pass-outs all predicted future alcohol-specific diagnoses independently of average intake, and of several other potential confounders. In identifying baseline hazardous drinking, subjective intoxications had a superior performance (AUC=0.83, 95%CI=0.82,0.84) in relation to other subjective measures of binge drinking. In identifying future alcohol-specific hospitalizations or death, subjective intoxications had also the best performance (AUC=0.78, 95%CI=0.75,0.81), but this was not significantly different from the other binge drinking measures, or average intake. Conclusions: Subjectively defined intoxications, hangovers, and alcohol-induced pass-outs are population level proxy measures of at-risk drinking patterns.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03596.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03596.x"
}