Background: Alcohol consumption is one of the risk factors associated with over 200 types of diseases, being strongly correlated with unemployment, low socioeconomic status, traffic accidents, and violence. Alcohol is also one of the main causes of premature deaths, especially among males. Early diagnosis based on screening may help to prevent the evolution from alcohol misuse to dependence by counseling or treatment.
Methods: 1024 participants took part in the study: 300 of alcohol dependents and 724 of controls (405 students and 319 patients from General Practice) (M ± SD age = 33.7 ± 15.4 years). Finally, group of 877 participants were included to the statistical analysis due to the missing data - 453 were male and 424 were female. The median AUDIT score was 17 (IQR = 11).
Results: Correlation analysis showed that AUDIT scores were strongly correlated with MAST (rho = 0.764, p < 0.001) and CAGE scores (rho = 759, p < 0.001). The ROC analysis resulted in an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.95 (p < 0.001; 95 % C.I.: 0.936-0.963). The cutoff point of 22 for alcohol dependence corresponded to a sensitivity of 0.893 and a specificity of 0.863.
Conclusion: According to our results, the AUDIT scale proved to be a useful tool with high sensitivity and specificity and therefore can be used as a valid screening measure in Poland.
Keywords: AUDIT questionnaire; Adaptation; Alcohol; Screening; Validation.
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