Alcohol

Injury prevention

Biology

Psychiatry

Economics

Biochemistry

Environmental health

Paleontology

Alcohol use disorder

Test (biology)

Poison control

Psychology

Management

Audit

Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test

Population

Alcohol consumption

Internal medicine

Medicine

Chemistry

Alcohol dependence

Gold standard (test)

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is an established screening questionnaire for the detection of at-risk drinking and possible alcohol use disorders (AUD) according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – fourth edition (DSM-IV). But there are still no comparable results on the diagnostic performance regarding the new criteria for AUD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – fifth edition (DSM-5), especially taking account of possible gender differences. We evaluated the performance of the full AUDIT and the consumption questions (AUDIT-C) in screening for DSM-5 AUD and at-risk drinking. Data from the study Transitions in Alcohol Consumption and Smoking (TACOS) is used to analyze the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, and specificity of the AUDIT and the AUDIT-C in the general population of northern Germany. DSM-5 AUD and at-risk drinking were assessed with the Munich-Composite Diagnostic Interview and used as gold standards. The best balance between sensitivity and specificity is achieved at a score of 5 for men and 4 for women. High severity, according to DSM-5, were associated with higher cut-offs. Both AUDIT versions are accurate in the screening for DSM-5 AUD. Since the proposed cut-offs do not differ from the optimal screening cut-offs for DSM-IV disorders, current screening procedures should not face major changes.

Diagnostic performance of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in detecting DSM-5 alcohol use disorders in the General population