The CAGE questionnaire was developed by Dr. John Ewing, founding director of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. CAGE is an internationally used assessment instrument for identifying problems with alcohol. ‘CAGE’ is an acronym formed from the italicised letters in the questionnaire (cut-annoyed-guilty-eye). Some people with AUD don’t know or want to admit they have a problem.
Only a small proportion of physicians integrate evaluation for alcoholism and other addictions into their standard work-up. A score of 2 to 3 indicates a high index of suspicion and a score of 4 is virtually diagnostic for alcoholism. Therefore, these tests are a good start to addressing a person’s addiction and creating an awareness of the underlying problem (i.e., an alcohol or drug addiction).
What Is The Cage Questionnaire Or Cage Test ?
Sensitivity means that people with alcohol dependence will test positive for it. Specificity refers to the percentage of true negatives, which means that people who do not have an alcohol dependence will test negative. Note that healthcare professionals should not precede the CAGE questionnaire with any other questions regarding alcohol intake. Any inquiries about drinking quantity or frequency can significantly reduce the sensitivity of CAGE questions. It is obvious to the person what the questions are about.
In addition, they do not clearly differentiate between hazardous, harmful, and dependent drinking. Nevertheless, a recent review of AUDIT and its shorter variants reported that the shorter tools have relatively good psychometric properties and that AUDIT-C in particular was nearly as accurate as the full AUDIT. Each response to the four the CAGE questions is scored as a “0” for “no”, and “1” for “yes”. The higher score is an indication of the underlying alcohol problems, and a total score of two or greater is considered as clinically significant. This quiz is a self-guided assessment that has been created from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which is the standard criteria for diagnosing mental health and substance use disorders. This self-assessment should not be considered as a final diagnosis but can be your first step in determining whether your drinking habits are cause for concern. Please consult a medical professional if this self-screening indicates a likelihood of alcohol abuse or addiction.
Whats The Cage Assessment?
Calls to our general hotline may be answered by private treatment providers. This modified variant is called the CAGE-AID questionnaire. AID is another acronym, for “Adapted to Include Drug use”. All Alcoholrehabhelp content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible. The more “yes” responses , the more likely it is that the patient has an alcohol problem.
The Committee for the Assessment of General Education consists of faculty members from a variety of disciplines and colleges. When your spouse affirms two or more questions the responses indicate that there is a possibility of an AOD.
The widely validated screening technique asks open-ended questions that dive into a person’s drinking habits and behaviors. Physicians typically receive little training in the diagnosis of alcoholism and other drug use disorders and rarely are exposed to the benefits of treatment. Thus, there seems to be little motivation to detect and treat alcoholism. Many physicians may tend to ignore this diagnosis until it becomes so severe it is the presenting symptom. •Fast alcohol screening test – a two-stage screening procedure based on four of the original AUDIT items.
Mental health disorders, genetics, and personality also heavily influence your susceptibility to developing a substance dependency. Substance abuse disorder, substance dependence, and substance addiction are disorders. They affect your brain, leading to a lack of control over drugs or medications. A clinician may use it as a screening tool in a primary care setting.
Only trained and licensed medical professionals can offer such services. If you or anyone you know is undergoing a severe health crisis call a doctor or 911 immediately. While there are many other alcoholism assessment procedures that are much more specific, CAGE is perfect for situations when a quick assessment of alcohol abuse is needed. MDCalc loves calculator creators – researchers who, through intelligent and often complex methods, discover tools that describe scientific facts that can then be applied in practice. These are real scientific discoveries about the nature of the human body, which can be invaluable to physicians taking care of patients.
Related Medical Tests
We may be paid a fee for marketing or advertising by organizations that can assist with treating addictions. It is obvious that the modified version of the CAGE is essentially the same as the original assessment procedure. We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Begin a life of recovery by reaching out to a specialist today. The validity of this instrument has not been determined within a prenatal population. The CAGE Assessment is accurate at determining problematic alcohol use.
The original CAGE questionnaire has been adapted to include drugs and can be used to identify potential drug addictions and the addition of “AID” stands for “Adapted to Include Drugs”. The CAGE questionnaire, the name of which is an acronym of its four questions, is a widely used screening test for problem drinking and potential alcohol problems. The questionnaire takes less than one minute to administer, and is often used in primary care or other general settings as a quick screening tool rather than as an in-depth interview for those who have alcoholism. The CAGE questionnaire does not have a specific intended population, and is meant to find those who drink excessively and need treatment. These short instruments take less time to administer than the full AUDIT but they are generally less accurate than the longer tool.
It includes 24 questions that ask about both – behavior and negative consequences and attempts to evaluate someone’s long-term history, rather than their current state. Addiction Resource is an educational platform for sharing and disseminating information about addiction and substance abuse recovery centers. Addiction Resource is not a healthcare provider nor does it claim to offer sound medical advice to anyone.
- The original CAGE questionnaire has been adapted to include drugs and can be used to identify potential drug addictions and the addition of “AID” stands for “Adapted to Include Drugs”.
- For screening measures such as the CAGE, diagnostic accuracy and discriminative validity are probably the most useful ways of looking at validity.
- It can be stated that individuals who score 2 on the CAGE model didn’t pass the test.
- The disadvantage is that it asks direct questions about how much alcohol the patient consumes, which patients tend to minimize or deny.
Classic denial is an unconscious mechanism that could underlie the “ever annoyed by criticism of your drinking” question. The drinking problem is often obvious to those around the drinker but may be practically invisible to the drinker.
‘CAGE’ is an acronym formed from the italicized letters in the questionnaire (cut-annoyed-guilty-eye). Fast alcohol screening test is a four-question test adapted from the AUDIT questionnaire that checks for drinking patterns that might increase someone’s risk of psychological or physical complications. Alcohol use disorders identification test is a 10-question test, which checks for both – potentially dangerous drinking habits, and alcohol dependence. CAGE-AID screenings can be used to identify opioid abuse among individuals prescribed opioids for treatment of chronic pain. Patients categorized as high-risk are at increased likelihood of future abusive drug-related behavior. CAGE-AID Substance Abuse Screening Tool, consisting of four-questions is used to screen for the opioid use and answering yes to two or more questions indicates that a complete assessment may be advised.
If your CAGE score is one or higher, you may want to consider additional assessment options, including a consultation and assessment with a licensed provider. This is one of the oldest screening tests for alcohol use disorder. It includes 24 questions that ask about both behavior and negative consequences.
The CAGE questionnaire or CAGE Test is a simple alcohol screening test used by many professionals in the alcohol addiction field. The CAGE tool consists of four simple questions, the answers to which can be used by doctors to check for signs of possible alcohol dependency.
Quick Assessment Tools
One of the oldest and most popular screening tools for alcohol abuse is the CAGE test, which is a short, four-question test that diagnoses alcohol problems over a lifetime. Similarly, the CAGE questionnaire is not a valid assessment of substance misuse.