Screening for substance abuse among adolescents validity of the CAGE-AID in youth mental health care.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the diagnostic accuracy of the four-item self-report and parent-report versions of the CAGE-AID as a screen for substance-use disorders (SUD) among adolescents in mental health care.


METHODS
Patients were 190 Dutch treatment-seeking adolescents (12-18 years old, mean age 15.5 years, 53% boys) and their parents who completed the CAGE-AID questionnaire during intake. DSM-IV clinical diagnoses were used as gold standard in receiver operating characteristic analyses to determine psychometric properties.


RESULTS
Psychometric properties for both the self-report and the parent-report versions showed the CAGE-AID's excellent diagnostic accuracy in predicting SUD.


CONCLUSIONS
The CAGE-AID seems to be a brief and valid instrument for detecting SUD among adolescents in mental health care. However, denial may play a role in both the CAGE-AID and the clinical interviews. More research is needed to further establish the CAGE-AID's usefulness in other settings. The study's limitations have been noted.
Couwenbergh
Christianne
C
Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre & Karakter University Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. C.Couwenbergh@psy.umcn.nl
Van Der Gaag
Rutger J
RJ
Koeter
Maarten
M
De Ruiter
Corine
C
Van den Brink
Wim
W
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008605:Mental Health Services; D009426:Netherlands; D011594:Psychometrics; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*