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Abstract
Three measures were studied for estimating alcohol consumption by elderly drinkers. The diary measure resulted in significantly greater reported daily alcohol consumption (p =. 004) and number of drinks consumed per week (p =. 07) compared with a 7-day and 28-day quantity-frequency measure. No differences were found between diary and Q-F measures in classifying elderly as drinkers versus nondrinkers, and heavy versus light drinkers. Likely factors contributing to the apparent advantage of the diary measure over the Q-F measures are that it offers elderly a prompt to recall, and that it provides a direct estimate of alcohol consumption based on “actual” versus “usual” alcohol use. Shortcomings of the retrospective diary are discussed.