title: Validation and comparison of alcohol-screening instruments for identifying hazardous drinking in hospitalized patients in Taiwan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to validate the Mandarin Chinese version of different screening instruments and compare their performances for identifying hazardous drinkers in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared the performance of the Mandarin Chinese versions of AUDIT, AUDIT-C (AUDIT items 1, 2 and 3), AUDIT-4 (AUDIT items 1, 2, 3 and 10), AUDIT-3 (AUDIT item 3), TWEAK, SMAST and CAGE to detect hazardous drinking in hospitalized patients in Taiwan. The results of the test instruments were blindly compared with the reference standard Schedule for Clinical Assessments in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 404 patients evaluated, 100 were identified as having a hazardous drinking pattern. All screening instruments showed acceptable sensitivities (ranging from 85 to 93%) and specificities (ranging from 72 to 92%), but AUDIT and its short forms performed consistently better than the other instruments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Mandarin Chinese versions of AUDIT and its derivatives perform well in screening hospitalized Taiwanese patients for hazardous drinking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Mackay Memorial Hospital, 45 Ming-Sheng Road, Tamshui, Taipei County 251, Taiwan. shui624@yahoo.com.tw
authors.forename: Shu-I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hui-Chun
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Shen-Ing
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chiu-Rong
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Fang-Ju
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Tse-Yun
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Shou-Chuan
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Kuo-Shyang
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Jeng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology