@article{ref1,
title="Use of a single alcohol screening question to identify other drug use",
journal="Drug and alcohol dependence",
year="2014",
author="Smith, Peter C. and Cheng, Debbie M. and Allensworth-Davies, Donald and Winter, Michael R. and Saitz, Richard",
volume="139",
number="",
pages="178-180",
abstract="BACKGROUND: People who consume unhealthy amounts of alcohol are more likely to use illicit drugs. We tested the ability of a screening test for unhealthy alcohol use to simultaneously detect drug use. <br><br>METHODS: Adult English speaking patients (n=286) were enrolled from a primary care waiting room. They were asked the screening question for unhealthy alcohol use &quot;How many times in the past year have you had X or more drinks in a day?&quot;, where X is 5 for men and 4 for women, and a response of one or more is considered positive. A standard diagnostic interview was used to determine current (past year) drug use or a drug use disorder (abuse or dependence). Oral fluid testing was also used to detect recent use of common drugs of abuse. <br><br>RESULTS: The single screening question for unhealthy alcohol use was 67.6% sensitive (95% confidence interval [CI], 50.2-82.0%) and 64.7% specific (95% CI, 58.4-70.6%) for the detection of a drug use disorder. It was similarly insensitive for drug use detected by oral fluid testing and/or self-report. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Although a patient with a drug use disorder has twice the odds of screening positive for unhealthy alcohol use compared to one without a drug use disorder, suggesting patients who screen positive for alcohol should be asked about drug use, a single screening question for unhealthy alcohol use was not sensitive or specific for the detection of other drug use or drug use disorders in a sample of primary care patients.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0376-8716",
doi="10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.03.027",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.03.027"
}