ArticlePloS one2025
Trends in alcohol consumption in middle-aged and older adults, assessed with self-report and the alcohol marker phosphatidylethanol - A longitudinal HUNT study.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Reference values for the alcohol biomarker phosphatidylethanol (PEth) in the Belgian population: Insights from a nationwide microsampling study.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlcohol is a leading risk factor for disease burden. We examined longitudinal trends in sex and age-specific alcohol consumption among middle-aged and older subjects who had participated in the population-based Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) in Norway since the 1990s.
methodsThis study included 23,151 individuals aged ≥43 years when they participated in the HUNT2 Survey (1995-1997) and who also had participated in the HUNT3 Survey (2006-2008), and/or the HUNT4 Survey (2017-2019). We used self-reported data to examine trends and identify sex- and age-specific differences in abstinence from alcohol, current drinking, risky drinking (≥8 units of alcohol/week), and heavy episodic drinking (≥5 or ≥6 units of alcohol in one sitting at least monthly). Concentrations of the objective alcohol marker phosphatidylethanol (PEth) were available in subsamples from HUNT3 to HUNT4.
resultsThe proportion of subjects with self-reported alcohol abstinence and with PEth concentrations <0.03 µmol/l increased from HUNT2 and/or HUNT3 to HUNT4, while heavy episodic drinking and PEth concentrations ≥0.03 µmol/l decreased from HUNT3 to HUNT4 in both sexes in most age groups, and more in men than in women. There was an increase in risky drinking from HUNT2 to HUNT4 in women and men aged 43-64 years in HUNT2. Men were more likely to consume alcohol than women measured with both self-report and with PEth in most age groups. Among those aged ≥65 years in HUNT2 a convergence between the sexes regarding abstinence and heavy episodic drinking was observed which was mostly caused by changes in men.
conclusionDrinking patterns among middle-aged and older Norwegians have changed since the 1990s with a trend toward more abstinence and less heavy episodic drinking and PEth concentrations ≥0.03 µmol/l in both women and men with increasing age. There is a trend of more risky drinking with age among both sexes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.