Concurrent validity of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT)

AIMS: To determine cut-offs for the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) 10-item questionnaire, differentiating hazardous drinking (HZD) and alcohol use disorders (AUD) from low risk drinking (LRD), and AUD from HZD and LRD among married men in a Sri Lankan sample. METHODS: Using 62 low risk drinkers and 88 each from hazardous drinkers and AUD, the AUDIT instrument was compared with adapted and translated versions of a beverage-specific, quantity-frequency questionnaire, and the alcohol use module of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), and two receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted. RESULTS: The area under the ROC curves to differentiate HZD + AUD from LRD and AUD from HZD + LRD were 0.96 (95% CI: 0.94-0.99) and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.95-0.99) respectively. The cut-off values of 7 and 16 were observed to have the best trade-offs between sensitivity, specificity, the ratio of positive likelihood to negative likelihood ratios, and positive predictive values. CONCLUSION: The AUDIT could be used to screen for LRD, HZD, and AUD among Sinhalese married men in Sri Lanka.