How effective is screening for heavy drinking?
Studies have demonstrated that screening is sensitive and that patients are willing to give honest information about their drinking to health care practitioners when appropriate methods are used. Several methods have been shown to work, including quantity-frequency interview questions and questionnaires such as the CAGE, the AUDIT, the shorter AUDIT-C, the TWEAK (for pregnant women), and others. In this Guide, the single screening question about heavy drinking days was chosen for its simplicity and because almost all people with alcohol use disorders report drinking 5 or more drinks in a day (for men) or 4 or more (for women) at least occasionally. This Guide also recommends the AUDIT (provided on page 11) as a self-administered screening tool because of its high levels of validity and reliability.
Studies have demonstrated that screening is sensitive and that patients are willing to give honest information about their drinking to health care practitioners when appropriate methods are used.6,15 Several methods have been shown to work, including quantity-frequency interview questions and questionnaires such as the CAGE, the AUDIT, the shorter AUDIT-C, the TWEAK (for pregnant women), and others.28,29 In this Guide, the single screening question about heavy drinking days was chosen for its simplicity and because almost all people with alcohol use disorders report drinking 5 or more drinks in a day (for men) or 4 or more (for women) at least occasionally. This Guide also recommends the AUDIT (provided on page 11) as a self-administered screening tool because of its high levels of validity and reliability.
