Re:Self-reported alcohol consumption may be biased
SeverineSabia, Research Associate
Published February 04, 2014
We thank Dr. Kabai for his comments on our article. [1] The Whitehall II study is not representative of the general population. Dr. Kabai estimated alcohol consumption in the UK at "26g of alcohol/day per person"; in our study it was 16 g/day in men and 7 g/day in women. The difference is that our study was comprised of older adults with stable civil service jobs who were healthier than the general population. [2] We made no claims about calculating mean average consumption in the UK population. In addition, the lower prevalence of heavy drinkers in our study is unlikely to have biased associations with cognitive decline. To assess these associations, we modelled the continuum of alcohol consumption using refined categories in the supplementary analyses to show harm to cognitive health in those who drank 36grams or more of alcohol every day. Unfortunately, we could not examine the effects on cognitive decline among those drinking even higher quantities as few participants in our cohort drank more. However, this does not imply that the results for participants in the 36g/day category are biased.
1. Sabia S, Elbaz A, Britton A, et al. Alcohol consumption and cognitive
decline in early old age. Neurology 2014;82:1-8.
2. Wills AK, Lawlor DA, Matthews FE, et al. Lifecourse trajectories of
systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts.
PloS Med 2011;8 :e1000440.
For disclosures, contact the editorial office at journal@neurology.org.
We thank Dr. Kabai for his comments on our article. [1] The Whitehall II study is not representative of the general population. Dr. Kabai estimated alcohol consumption in the UK at "26g of alcohol/day per person"; in our study it was 16 g/day in men and 7 g/day in women. The difference is that our study was comprised of older adults with stable civil service jobs who were healthier than the general population. [2] We made no claims about calculating mean average consumption in the UK population. In addition, the lower prevalence of heavy drinkers in our study is unlikely to have biased associations with cognitive decline. To assess these associations, we modelled the continuum of alcohol consumption using refined categories in the supplementary analyses to show harm to cognitive health in those who drank 36grams or more of alcohol every day. Unfortunately, we could not examine the effects on cognitive decline among those drinking even higher quantities as few participants in our cohort drank more. However, this does not imply that the results for participants in the 36g/day category are biased.
1. Sabia S, Elbaz A, Britton A, et al. Alcohol consumption and cognitive decline in early old age. Neurology 2014;82:1-8.
2. Wills AK, Lawlor DA, Matthews FE, et al. Lifecourse trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts. PloS Med 2011;8 :e1000440.
For disclosures, contact the editorial office at journal@neurology.org.