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Making sense of alcohol consumption data in Australia
Author(s) -
Yusuf Farhat,
Leeder Stephen R
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja15.00151
Subject(s) - library science , alcohol consumption , citation , sociology , media studies , computer science , biochemistry , chemistry , alcohol
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) conducts periodic health surveys to collect information on the health of Australians, including data on their alcohol consumption. The 2001 National Health Survey1 was the first for which the ABS made the confidentialised unit record files available, enabling researchers to undertake detailed data analyses. Further health surveys were conducted in 2004–2005, 2007–2008 and most recently in 2011–2012.2 As is typical for ABS surveys, they were based on sophisticated sampling methods and face-to-face interviews conducted by specially trained staff, with response rates of 80%–90%. These surveys are therefore of the highest quality. Alcohol consumption data were collected from respondents aged 18 years or over in the 2001 survey, and from those aged 15 years or older in the 2011–2012 survey. In this article, we compare the data from these two surveys to determine whether alcohol consumption in Australia changed over this period.