TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparing short versions of the AUDIT in a community-based survey of young people
AU - Bowring, Anna L
AU - Gouillou, Maelenn
AU - Hellard, Margaret Elena
AU - Dietze, Paul Mark
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - The 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-10) is commonly used to monitor
harmful alcohol consumption among high-risk groups, including young people. However, time and space
constraints have generated interest for shortened versions. Commonly used variations are the AUDIT-C (three
questions) and the Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST) (four questions), but their utility in screening young people
in non-clinical settings has received little attention.
Methods: We examined the performance of established and novel shortened versions of the AUDIT in relation to
the full AUDIT-10 in a community-based survey of young people (16?29 years) attending a music festival in
Melbourne, Australia (January 2010).
Among those reporting drinking alcohol in the previous 12 months, the following statistics were systematically
assessed for all possible combinations of three or four AUDIT items and established AUDIT variations: Cronbach?s
alpha (internal consistency), variance explained (R2) and Pearson?s correlation coefficient (concurrent validity). For
our purposes, novel shortened AUDIT versions considered were required to represent all three AUDIT domains and
include item 9 on alcohol-related injury.
Results: We recruited 640 participants (68 female) reporting drinking in the previous 12 months. Median
AUDIT-10 score was 10 in males and 9 in females, and 127 (20 ) were classified as having at least high-level
alcohol problems according to WHO classification.
The FAST scored consistently high across statistical measures; it explained 85.6 of variance in AUDIT-10, correlation
with AUDIT-10 was 0.92, and Cronbach?s alpha was 0.66. A number of novel four-item AUDIT variations scored
similarly high. Comparatively, the AUDIT-C scored substantially lower on all measures except internal consistency.
Conclusions: Numerous abbreviated variations of the AUDIT may be a suitable alternative to the AUDIT-10 for
classifying high-level alcohol pro
AB - The 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-10) is commonly used to monitor
harmful alcohol consumption among high-risk groups, including young people. However, time and space
constraints have generated interest for shortened versions. Commonly used variations are the AUDIT-C (three
questions) and the Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST) (four questions), but their utility in screening young people
in non-clinical settings has received little attention.
Methods: We examined the performance of established and novel shortened versions of the AUDIT in relation to
the full AUDIT-10 in a community-based survey of young people (16?29 years) attending a music festival in
Melbourne, Australia (January 2010).
Among those reporting drinking alcohol in the previous 12 months, the following statistics were systematically
assessed for all possible combinations of three or four AUDIT items and established AUDIT variations: Cronbach?s
alpha (internal consistency), variance explained (R2) and Pearson?s correlation coefficient (concurrent validity). For
our purposes, novel shortened AUDIT versions considered were required to represent all three AUDIT domains and
include item 9 on alcohol-related injury.
Results: We recruited 640 participants (68 female) reporting drinking in the previous 12 months. Median
AUDIT-10 score was 10 in males and 9 in females, and 127 (20 ) were classified as having at least high-level
alcohol problems according to WHO classification.
The FAST scored consistently high across statistical measures; it explained 85.6 of variance in AUDIT-10, correlation
with AUDIT-10 was 0.92, and Cronbach?s alpha was 0.66. A number of novel four-item AUDIT variations scored
similarly high. Comparatively, the AUDIT-C scored substantially lower on all measures except internal consistency.
Conclusions: Numerous abbreviated variations of the AUDIT may be a suitable alternative to the AUDIT-10 for
classifying high-level alcohol pro
UR - http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-13-301.pdf
U2 - 10.1186/1471-2458-13-301
DO - 10.1186/1471-2458-13-301
M3 - Article
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 7
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
SN - 1471-2458
IS - 1
M1 - 301
ER -