Screening for alcohol abuse using CAGE scores and likelihood ratios

Article Abstract:

It is very important that primary care physicians be able to detect alcohol abuse in their patients. Up to 45 percent of adult medicine outpatients report a history of excessive or poorly controlled drinking behaviors indicative of possible alcohol abuse or dependence, but physicians identify alcohol abuse or dependence in only about 35 percent of the patients in whom it is present. The so-called ''CAGE'' questionnaire (an acronym for key words in each of the four questions used in the test) has been proposed as a simple, accurate means of identifying problem drinking behaviors in patients. To assess the performance of the questionnaire, 821 patients agreed to participate in a study of drinking behaviors. Patients were asked the four CAGE questions. They were also subjected to a more in-depth evaluation in which any history of alcohol dependence or abuse was characterized. A CAGE score of two or greater (i.e. answering ''yes'' to two or more of the questions) was able to correctly identify alcohol abuse behavior in 74 percent of the cases, and correctly excluded patients with no such behavior in 91 percent of the cases; this is the standard criterion used to identify alcohol abuse. Use of the likelihood ratio (probability of a given test result in the presence of alcohol abuse divided by the probability of a given test result in the absence of the condition) for identifying alcohol-related problem behavior significantly improved the predictive power of the CAGE questionnaire for patients with CAGE scores above or below two. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Drinking of alcoholic beverages, Drinking (Alcoholic beverages)

---

Ethnic and sex bias in primary care screening tests for alcohol use disorders

Article Abstract:

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) appears to be most accurate at screening for alcohol abuse in family practice patients independent of gender or ethnicity. Researchers administered the CAGE questionnaire, Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test (SAAST), and AUDIT to 1,333 adults in a family practice medical clinic. CAGE and SAAST were less sensitive detectors of alcohol dependency in Mexican-American women and African-American men. AUDIT was particularly sensitive at identifying patients unlikely to have an alcohol dependency.

Evaluation, African Americans, Medical screening, Health screening, Mexican Americans, Alcohol use

---

Update in addiction medicine

Article Abstract:

Research on addiction published in 1998-2000 is reviewed. Topics include nomenclature, alcohol, opioids, tobacco, cocaine, club drugs, marijuana, and psychogenetics.

Research, Substance abuse

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Drinking and flying - the problem of alcohol use by pilots. Alcohol and blood pressure - a drink a day... The effect of ethanol on fat storage in healthy subjects
• Abstracts: Screening for alcoholism by life-style risk assessment in a community hospital. Alcohol abuse in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy: laboratory vs clinical detection
• Abstracts: The effects of frequent nonoxynol-9 use on the vaginal and cervical mucosa. The use of sequential self-obtained vaginal smears for detecting changes in the vaginal flora
• Abstracts: Impact of prenatal testing on maternal-fetal bonding: chorionic villus sampling versus amniocentesis. Early transabdominal chorionic villus sampling in couples at high genetic risk
• Abstracts: The truth about the man's woman: why men like women like themselves. Women of the year

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.