NESARC(20) began as a nationally representative sample of 43,093 participants aged 18–99 years (at Wave 1) (21). Wave 1 was collected during 2001–2002 by the U.S. Bureau of the Census on behalf of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and included data from adult, non-institutionalized U.S. citizens and non-citizens (including Alaska and Hawaii). After complete description of the study to the subjects, informed consent was obtained. Approximately 3 years later, Wave 2 data were collected on 34,653 [including 29,993 lifetime alcohol users] of the Wave 1 subjects, reflecting a cumulative response rates of 86.7%,(22).
