This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Screening

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Screening is a systematic process of identifying people whose alcohol consumption places them at increased risk of physical, psychological or social problems and who would benefit from a preventive intervention (1)

Screening can be done in three ways:

  • screening questionnaires
    • Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)
    • AUDIT-C and AUDIT-PC - these are shortened forms of the AUDIT and are used when there is insufficient time to administer the full AUDIT.
    • the CAGE
    • Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ)
    • the 5-Shot Questionnaire
    • Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST)
    • Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST)
  • biological markers of recent alcohol consumption
    • completely objective and cannot be distorted in the same way as questionnaires
    • mainly used in assessing the severity and progress of an established alcohol related problem, or as part of a secondary care assessment
    • the following are currently used to detect levels of alcohol consumption
      • blood or breath alcohol concentration
      • mean corpuscular volume (MCV)
      • serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT)
      • aspartate aminotransferase
      • alanine aminotransferase
      • carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT)
      • HDL-cholesterol • Uric acid.
  • clinical indicators by using clinical history or signs at physical examination
    • the following physical disorders and signs are suggestive of harmful drinking
      • hypertension
      • frequent accidents
      • dilated facial capillaries
      • bloodshot eyes
      • hand or tongue tremor
      • gastrointestinal disorders
      • duodenal ulcers
      • cognitive impairment

NICE recommends that professionals in the National Health Service should carry out alcohol screening as part of routine practice

Reference:

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.