ArticleAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2017
Health Risk Factors Associated with Lifetime Abstinence from Alcohol in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Cohort.
Article in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Are there non-linear relationships between alcohol consumption and long-term health?: a systematic review of observational studies employing approaches to improve causal inference.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Pooled it
- Reassessing alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease by addressing bias in observational data: results from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.European journal of preventive cardiology · 2026Article
- Trend analyses and comparison of characteristics of current-, former- and never-drinkers among young adults in France from 2000 to 2021.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Is Childhood Adversity Before Age 5 Associated with Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Use? Findings from a U.S. Prospective Cohort Study.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Observational
- Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking: a health-risk behaviour among secondary school learners in South Africa.African health sciences · 2022Article
- Alcohol abstinence and mortality in a general population sample of adults in Germany: A cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2021Article
- Lifecourse Drinking Patterns, Hypertension, and Heart Problems Among U.S. Adults.American journal of preventive medicine · 2020Article
- Adverse childhood events and risk of diabetes onset in the 1979 National longitudinal survey of youth cohort.BMC public health · 2019Article
- Lifetime Alcohol Use Patterns and Risk of Diabetes Onset in the National Alcohol Survey.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2019Article
- Alcohol use patterns and risk of diabetes onset in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Cohort.Preventive medicine · 2018Article
- Grounding alcohol simulation models in empirical and theoretical alcohol research: a model for a Northern Plains population in the United States.System dynamics reviewArticle
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Abstract
backgroundThe choice and definition of a comparison group in alcohol-related health studies remains a prominent issue in alcohol epidemiology due to potential biases in the risk estimates. The most commonly used comparison group has been current abstainers; however, this includes former drinkers who may have quit drinking due to health problems. Lifetime abstention could be the best option, but measurement issues, selection biases due to health and other risk factors, and small numbers in populations are important concerns. This study examines characteristics of lifetime abstention and occasional drinking that are relevant for alcohol-related health studies.
methodsThis study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort of 14 to 21 year olds followed through 2012 (n = 7,515). Definitions of abstinence and occasional drinking were constructed based on multiple measurements. Descriptive analyses were used to compare the definitions, and in further analysis, lifetime abstainers (n = 718) and lifetime minimal drinkers (n = 1,027) were compared with drinkers across demographics and early-life characteristics (i.e., religion, poverty, parental education, and family alcohol problems) in logistic regression models.
resultsUsing a strict measurement of zero drinks from adolescence to the 50s, only 1.7% of the sample was defined as lifetime abstainer compared to a broader definition allowing a total of 1 drink over the lifetime that included 9.5% and to lifetime minimal drinking (a total of 3 drinks or less a month), which accounted for 13.7%. Factors significantly associated with lifetime abstention and lifetime minimal drinking included religion, poverty, having no family alcohol problems, Hispanic ethnicity, foreign-born, and female gender. Importantly, work-related health limitations in early life were significantly associated, but not childhood physical and mental health problems.
conclusionsAlcohol-related health studies should utilize lifetime classifications of drinkers and abstainers, and, in doing so, should account for early-life socioeconomic adversity and childhood health factors or consider these as unmeasured confounders.
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