Observational Research on Alcohol Use and Chronic Disease Outcome: New Approaches to Counter Biases

Table 2

Association between alcohol use of key participants and their children’s health status, all controlled confounders listed (RR: relative risk).

	RR	95% confidence interval
Alcohol use of key participant
Lifetime abstainer	1.00
Former infrequent	1.11	1.02	1.22
Former regular	0.88	0.78	1.00
Current infrequent	1.01	0.93	1.08
Current light	0.88	0.82	0.94
Current moderate	0.85	0.77	0.95
Current heavier	0.81	0.70	0.93
Drinking status not reported	1.04	0.87	1.24
Age of child
<1	1.00
1–5	1.20	1.05	1.38
5–9	1.38	1.21	1.58
10–14	1.56	1.35	1.79
15–17	1.72	1.48	1.99
Gender of child
Male	1.00
Female	0.94	0.89	0.99
Gender of key participant
Male	1.00
Female	1.07	1.01	1.15
Age group of key participant
18–24	1.00
25–34	1.17	1.04	1.32
35–44	1.16	1.03	1.32
45–54	1.11	0.96	1.28
55–64	1.26	1.01	1.56
65–74	1.08	0.72	1.63
75+	1.14	0.46	2.82
Race of key participant
White	1.00
Black	1.25	1.17	1.33
Asian	1.24	1.11	1.39
All other race groups	1.29	1.12	1.49
Marital status of key participant
Married currently living with spouse	1.00
Married not currently living with spouse	0.96	0.79	1.16
Widowed	1.26	1.02	1.55
Divorced	1.03	0.94	1.13
Separated	1.04	0.94	1.15
Never married	1.11	1.02	1.20
Living with partner	1.08	0.97	1.19
Education level of key participant
12th grade or lower	1.00
High-school graduates	0.71	0.67	0.75
Bachelor’s degree	0.49	0.44	0.55
Master degree or above	0.44	0.37	0.51
Employment status of key participant
Working for pay at a job or business	1.00
With a job or business but not at work	0.98	0.83	1.15
Looking for work	0.97	0.89	1.06
Working, but not for pay, at a family-owned job or business	1.05	0.72	1.51
Not working at a job or business and not looking for work	1.03	0.97	1.10
Total combined family income
$0–$34,999	1.00
$35,000–$74,999	0.76	0.70	0.81
$75,000–$99,999	0.61	0.54	0.69
$100,000 and over	0.46	0.41	0.53
Private insurance cover of key participant
Yes	1.00
No	1.12	1.05	1.20
Home tenure status of key participant
Owned or being bought	1.00
Rented	1.11	1.04	1.18
Other arrangement	0.81	0.68	0.95
Year of survey
2008	1.00
2009	0.95	0.89	1.01
2010	1.06	1.00	1.13
Region of residence
Northeast	1.00
Midwest	0.94	0.86	1.02
South	0.94	0.86	1.01
West	0.97	0.89	1.05
Number of family members under 18 years of age
1	1.00
2	1.03	0.96	1.11
3+	1.11	1.03	1.19
Number of family members aged 65 and older
0	1.00
1	1.35	1.11	1.63
2+	0.84	0.45	1.57