The weekly volume of alcohol consumption was thus measured from baseline throughout 36 349 person‐observations among men and 16 208 person‐observations among women, as reported by 6838 and 3372 participants, respectively. Participants were aged 34.1–56.3 years at baseline and followed for a mean 19.1 [standard deviation (SD) = 9.5] years, capturing consumption during a period of the adult life course ranging from 34.1 to 83.6 years of age. Relative to categories of current drinkers, baseline non‐drinkers were more likely to be of non‐white ethnic background, in fair or poor health, low occupational grade, physically active or current smokers (Supporting information, Appendix S1).
