title: Identifying risk drinking in expectant fathers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Identification of risk drinking in expectant fathers may be helpful as an important part of efforts to minimize maternal alcohol use, and as an opportunity to inform them about a problematic practice during a critical developmental stage for the couple. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the T-ACE screening questionnaire, which asks about tolerance to alcohol, being annoyed by other's comments about drinking, attempts to cut down, and having a drink first thing in the morning ("eye-opener"), in the male partners of pregnant women who themselves were T-ACE positive.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred fifty-four male partners were asked to complete the T-ACE embedded in a health survey, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and other questions about their alcohol use in the past 30 days when their pregnant partners had a median gestation of 11.5 weeks (T1). After delivery, male partners again completed the T-ACE and quantity-frequency questions (T2). The predictive ability of the T-ACE and AUDIT was compared, using risk drinking (>4 drinks/day or >14 drinks/week) as the criterion standard.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A substantial minority of male partners had risk drinking, 31 percent at T1 and 25 percent at T2. Although the AUDIT was better than the T-ACE as an independent predictor of risk drinking, the latter was most accurate when the tolerance threshold exceeded 2 drinks, the same established for pregnant women. The sensitivity (T1= 84.6%, T2= 82.8%) and specificity (T1= 43.8%, T2= 51.1%) of the T-ACE at this threshold compared favorably with those of the AUDIT at the standard cut point of 8.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The T-ACE may be a practical way for clinicians to identify risk drinking in both pregnant women and expectant fathers.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Tay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McNamara
authors.forename: E John
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Orav
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wilkins-Haug
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008404:Massachusetts; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018454:Spouses; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires