Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

  1. Philip Sedgwick, senior lecturer in medical statistics
  1. 1Centre for Medical and Healthcare Education, St George’s, University of London, Tooting, London SW17 0RE
  1. p.sedgwick{at}sgul.ac.uk

    A study investigated the performance of the CAGE questionnaire as a screening tool for alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency in primary care. The CAGE questionnaire consists of four questions about alcohol behaviour, each with a “yes” or “no” response. Clinical interview was used as the diagnostic test (“gold standard”) for alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency. A total of 1970 individuals were investigated and the results obtained are shown in table 1.⇓ 1

    View this table:
    • In this window
    • In a new window
    Table 1

     Cross tabulation of the number of “yes” responses on CAGE questionnaire against clinical diagnosis

    A minimum number of “yes” responses is required for the screening test to identify an individual as screen “positive” and subsequently recommend clinical interview. If the threshold for “positive” on …

    Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment

    Subscribe

    Article access

    Article access for 1 day

    Purchase this article for £20 $30 €32*

    The PDF version can be downloaded as your personal record

    * Prices do not include VAT

    Rapid responses

    THIS WEEK'S POLL

    Read related article

    See previous polls

    BMJ most popular