for Health Care Providers
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test - Alcoholic Liver Disease
Contents
Audit-C Test
The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) is an alcohol screen that can help identify patients who are hazardous drinkers or who may have an active alcohol use disorder.
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test - Consumption (AUDIT-C)
Generally, the higher the AUDIT-C score, the more likely it is that the patient's drinking is affecting their health and safety.
| Question | Answer | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. How often did you have a drink containing alcohol in the past year? | Never | 0 point |
| Monthly or less | 1 point | |
| 2 to 4 times per month | 2 points | |
| 2 to 3 times per week | 3 points | |
| 4 or more times per week | 4 points | |
| 2. On days in the past year when you drank alcohol how many drinks did you typically drink? | 0, 1, or 2 | 0 point |
| 3 or 4 | 1 point | |
| 5 or 6 | 2 points | |
| 7 - 9 | 3 points | |
| 10 or more | 4 points | |
| 3. How often did you have 6 or more (for men) or 4 or more (for women and everyone 65 and older) drinks on an occasion in the past year? | Never | 0 point |
| Less than monthly | 1 point | |
| Monthly | 2 points | |
| Weekly | 3 points | |
| Daily or almost daily | 4 points |
Based on the points accumulated in the table above:
- The minimum score (for non-drinkers) is 0 and the maximum possible score is 12.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) currently considers a screen positive for unhealthy alcohol use if the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test - Consumption (AUDIT-C) score is 5 points or greater.
Note: The Management of Substance Use Disorders Workgroup reports that this subject is actively evolving; the information presented here is current as of March 2021. For VA patients and providers, documentation of brief alcohol counseling is required for those with AUDIT-C scores of 5 points or greater, for both men and women. Similar guidance is being included in DoD's updated Electronic Medical Record (EMR). This higher AUDIT-C score was selected to minimize the false-positive rate and to target implementation efforts. Follow-up of screening scores less than 5 points is left to provider discretion. A "positive AUDIT-C" should never be the sole criterion for entering an alcohol diagnosis into the EMR. Further, within DoD, such a diagnosis may limit future roles and thus further exacerbate existing stigma surrounding alcohol use. For more information, see Hoggatt et al. (2018) "Brief Reporting: Identifying Women Veterans with Unhealthy Alcohol Use Using Gender-Tailored Screening". For more information on the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Substance Use Disorders, see VADoDSUDCPG.pdf.
Scoring Cards
The Audit-C is given to thousands of VA patients. These cards show Veterans how their drinking compares to other Veterans.
