The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as a screening instrument for adolescents.
BACKGROUND
The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is an international screening instrument extensively employed in adult target groups. However, there is scarce information on screening with the AUDIT in adolescent populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the cut-off point for hazardous, harmful, and dependent alcohol use through the validation of the AUDIT in a Chilean adolescent sample.


METHODS
The original English version of the AUDIT was translated into Spanish, using the procedure recommended by the World Health Organization. The text was then back-translated and sent to one of the original authors (Thomas Babor), who approved the translation. Students attending public schools in Santiago, Chile, self-administered the AUDIT, and those older than 15 years completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Substance Abuse Module (CIDI-SAM), which served as a gold standard. Between 1 and 4 weeks after the CIDI-SAM, participants answered a second AUDIT.


RESULTS
A total of 42 female and 53 male adolescents (mean age: 15.9 [SD=1.2]) completed the AUDIT, with a mean score of 4.3. Reliability according to Cronbach's alpha was 0.83. Test-retest correlation was also satisfactory (intra-class correlation 0.81 [95% CI 0.73-0.87]). Analysis of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve yielded cut-off points for hazardous, harmful, and dependent alcohol use of 3, 5, and 7 points, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The Chilean version of the AUDIT is a valid and reliable tool for identifying adolescents with hazardous, harmful, and dependent alcohol use. The suggested cut-off points make screening with the AUDIT more accurate for adolescent populations.
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. rsantis@med.puc.cl
Rodrigo
R
Santis
María Luisa
ML
Garmendia
Gonzalo
G
Acuña
María Elena
ME
Alvarado
Oscar
O
Arteaga
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002677:Chile; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D014177:Translations