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Abstract
Aim The study aimed to establish the concurrent validity of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as a screening instrument for use in the identification of potential problem drinkers amongst general hospital in-patients in the UK.
Design Survey/correlational.
Setting General medical, surgical, otolaryngology and dermatology wards of a general hospital.
Participants One hundred and eighty-three male and thirty-two female, general hospital in-patients aged between 18 and 75 years.
Measurements Self-reports of weekly alcohol consumption (WAC), AUDIT, and Short Alcohol Dependence Data (SADD) questionnaire.
Findings Correlations were computed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The linear relationship between the scores obtained from the AUDIT and SADD indicated a good concurrent validity (r = 0.87, P < 0.001). The correlations between the AUDIT and WAC also suggested a significant correlation (r = 0.76, P < 0.001).
Conclusions The data presented in this study can be interpreted as important in supporting evidence for the concurrent validity of the AUDIT in the UK, for the given setting and subjects described. The efficacy of the AUDIT as a screening instrument within the UK amongst both similar and diverse samples and settings merits future research.