AUDIT and AUDIT-C as screening instruments for alcohol problem use in adolescents
Open accessAbstract
Background The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is commonly used in adults to screen for harmful alcohol consumption but few studies exist on its use among adolescents. Our aim was to validate the AUDIT and its derivative consumption questionnaire (AUDIT-C) as screening instruments for the detection of problem use of alcohol in adolescents.Methods 621 adolescents (age-range, 12-19 years) were drawn from clinical and population samples who completed the AUDIT questionnaire. Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed using K-SADS-PL. A rating based on the K-SADS-PL was used to assess alcohol use habits, alcohol use disorders, screening and symptom criteria questions. Screening performance of the AUDIT and AUDIT-C sum scores and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated. The diagnostic odds ratios (dOR) were calculated to express the overall discrimination between cut-offs.Results Comparisons of ROC between the AUDIT and AUDIT-C pairs indicated a slightly better test performance by AUDIT for the whole sample and in a proportion of the subsamples. Optimal cut-off value for the AUDIT was ≥5 (sensitivity 0.931, specificity 0.772, dOR 45.22; 95% CI: 24.72-83.57) for detecting alcohol problem use. The corresponding optimal cut-off value for the AUDIT-C was ≥3 in detecting alcohol problem use (sensitivity 0.952, specificity 0.663, dOR 39.31; 95% CI: 19.46-78.97). Agreement between the AUDIT and AUDIT-C using these cut-off scores was high at 91.9%.Conclusions Our results for the cut-off scores for the early detection of alcohol problem use in adolescents are ≥5 for AUDIT, and ≥3 for AUDIT-C.
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The AUDIT-C is the best practice tool currently recommended for alcohol screening in the general population and performs well for adolescents and across ethnic groups.
“The AUDIT-C is a shortened version of the AUDIT [47], which is the best practice tool currently recommended for alcohol screening in the general population and performs well for adolescents [48,49] and across ethnic groups [50].”
From Feasibility and Acceptability of the Aboriginal and Islander Mental Health Initiative for Youth App: Nonrandomized Pilot With First Nations Young People (2023) · cites this paper as [49]
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Research works printed but not linked: 2
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The predictive capacity of AUDIT and AUDIT-C among adolescents in a one-year follow-up study
Liskola, J., Haravuori, H., Lindberg, N., Kiviruusu, O., Niemelä, S., Karlsson, L., & Marttunen, M. (2021) · Drug and Alcohol Dependence · doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108424 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
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“The AUDIT-C is a shortened version of the AUDIT [47], which is the best practice tool currently recommended for alcohol screening in the general population and performs well for adolescents [48,49] and across ethnic groups [50].”
Goldschmidt, L., Mncina, B., Langa, M., Rebello, S., Budaza, T., Tshabalala, J., Kinfu, Y., & Achoki, T. (2023) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-023-16775-5 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Liskola, J., Haravuori, H., Lindberg, N., Niemelä, S., Karlsson, L., Kiviruusu, O., & Marttunen, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Lapland Central Hospital (FI)
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Liskola, Joni
- Venue
- Drug and Alcohol Dependence
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 188
- Pages
- 266-273
- ISSN
- 0376-8716 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2804938170
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 7.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- Locations
- Drug and Alcohol Dependence (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
- WOS
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- auditing, AUDIT-C, alcohol use disorder screening, adolescent alcohol use, screening tool validation, cut-off values, diagnostic odds ratio, sensitivity and specificity, K-SADS-PL
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Alcoholism, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Surveys and Questionnaires, ROC Curve, Sensitivity and Specificity, Young Adult
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