Adjustment for survey non-representativeness using record-linkage::refined estimates of alcohol consumption by deprivation in Scotland

Gorman, Emma and Leyland, Alastair H. and McCartney, Gerry and Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal and Rutherford, Lisa and Graham, Lesley and Robinson, Mark and Gray, Linsay (2017) Adjustment for survey non-representativeness using record-linkage::refined estimates of alcohol consumption by deprivation in Scotland. Addiction, 112 (7). pp. 1270-1280. ISSN 0965-2140

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Abstract

Background and aims: Analytical approaches to addressing survey non-participation bias typically use only demographic information to improve estimates. We applied a novel methodology which uses health information from data linkage to adjust for non-representativeness. We illustrate the method by presenting adjusted alcohol consumption estimates for Scotland. Design: Data on consenting respondents to the Scottish Health Surveys (SHeSs) 1995-2010 were linked confidentially to routinely collected hospital admission and mortality records. Synthetic observations representing non-respondents were created using general population data. Multiple imputation was performed to compute adjusted alcohol estimates given a range of assumptions about the missing data. Adjusted estimates of mean weekly consumption were additionally calibrated to per-capita alcohol sales data. Setting: Scotland. Participants: 13 936 male and 18 021 female respondents to the SHeSs 1995-2010, aged 20-64years. Measurements: Weekly alcohol consumption, non-, binge- and problem-drinking. Findings: Initial adjustment for non-response resulted in estimates of mean weekly consumption that were elevated by up to 17.8% [26.5units (18.6-34.4)] compared with corrections based solely on socio-demographic data [22.5 (17.7-27.3)]; other drinking behaviour estimates were little changed. Under more extreme assumptions the overall difference was up to 53%, and calibrating to sales estimates resulted in up to 88% difference. Increases were especially pronounced among males in deprived areas. Conclusions: The use of routinely collected health data to reduce bias arising from survey non-response resulted in higher alcohol consumption estimates among working-age males in Scotland, with less impact for females. This new method of bias reduction can be generalized to other surveys to improve estimates of alternative harmful behaviours.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Addiction
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2701
Subjects:
?? ALCOHOL CONSUMPTIONALCOHOL-RELATED HARMBIASEPIDEMIOLOGYHEALTH SURVEYSNON-PARTICIPATIONRECORD-LINKAGESCOTLANDPOPULATION-BASED HEALTHNONRESPONSE BIASFOLLOW-UPCAGE QUESTIONNAIRESALES DATAMORTALITYPOLICYPARTICIPANTSCOHORTUNITPSYCHIATRY AND MENTAL HEALTHMEDICI ??
ID Code:
89778
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
19 Jan 2018 13:36
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Sep 2023 00:39