Yeah, I study retrospective treatment patterns for a living, and I can tell you that self-reported alcohol use is highly unreliable. If you tell your doctor you drink several times a week they will code you as alcohol dependent, so many people just deny drinking at all.
My favorite response was from a patient, when asked how much he drank, he simply said “not as much as I’d like to.”
I drink hardly at all. I have lots of wine and hard liquor at home but never drink any, it’s mostly a decoration. Some of the liquor I have had for 20 years.....................
A friend of mine shared a photo of a questionnaire from a doctors office in New York city.
Do you smoke? No
Do you drink alcohol? Yes
If so how many drinks per week? Prefer not to say.
Do you own a gun? [blank]
If so do you store it unloaded in a locked container separate from the ammunition?
Over which he scrawls: Please refer all further questions to my lawyer.
Funny you would say that...I just had a physical a couple of weeks ago, and when my wife was going through the visit notes they sent us, it said had admitted to several drinks a week. I distinctly remember saying it was one or two a month...if that!
So my doctor was saying I drank four times as much as I admit to!
I don’t miss drinking much, but...I do miss drinking with friends!