Trends in self-reported past alcohol intake from 1950 to 1995 observed in eight European countries participating in the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) project
Klipstein-Grobusch, K.; Slimani, N.; Krogh, V.; Boeing, H.
IARC Scientific Publications 156: 169-172
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0300-5038 PMID: 12484157 Document Number: 548715
An investigation was carried out to describe the trends of self-reported past consumption of alcoholic beverages and alcohol intake between 1950 and 1995 within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. subjects for the present analysis came from 21 EPIC study centres in 8 European countries. Consumption of glasses of alcoholic beverages per week expressed as beer/cider, wine, sweet liquor/distilled spirits was estimated retrospectively for age 20, 30 and 40 years by self-administered lifestyle questionnaires phrased similarly in study centres. Daily consumption of alcohol (g/day) for the time periods 1950-75, 1960-85 and 1970-95 was calculated based on average glass volume and alcohol content for each type of alcoholic beverages. This information was derived for each study centre from 36 900 computerized 24-h dietary recall interviews. For self-reported beer/cider consumption, a positive trend was generally observed for all time periods, for most of the study centres. Trends in beer/cider consumption were considerably less pronounced for women than for men. Trends in wine consumption differed according to geographical location. The level of initial wine consumption was considerably higher in southern compared to middle/northern European study centres. Men reported higher alcohol intakes than women. For most cohorts, a considerable decrease in the percentage of alcohol abstainers with time was also observed. Results suggest that information depicting life-long history if alcohol intake should be included in the analyses of of the relation between alcohol and chronic diseases, particularly in multicentre studies such as EPIC.