Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test
A 10-item World Health Organization screener for hazardous and harmful alcohol use over the past year. Each item has its own response anchors; the total is compared to published risk-zone thresholds. Intended for use under clinician supervision.
This is a clinical instrument. It is not publicly self-administered — a clinician assigns it through a secure patient link.
At a glance
What it measures
The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Saunders, Aasland, Babor, de la Fuente, & Grant, 1993) is the World Health Organization's 10-item screener for hazardous and harmful alcohol use over the past year. It was developed in a WHO collaborative project on early detection of harmful drinking, and each item carries its own frequency or quantity anchors.
Totals are read against the risk zones in the WHO's second-edition primary-care guidelines (Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders, & Monteiro, 2001), reproduced in the scoring section of this page: 8 or more indicates hazardous use, with higher zones for harmful use and possible dependence.
Psychometric properties
The notes below are reproduced from the platform's psychometrics register for this instrument — the same source-cited reliability, validity, and norms text that accompanies its downloadable report.
Internal consistency is generally good, with reported Cronbach's alpha around 0.80 across diverse populations (Reinert & Allen, 2007).
At the standard cutoff of 8, the AUDIT shows sensitivity of roughly 0.85-0.95 and specificity of 0.78-0.90 for hazardous and harmful drinking (Saunders et al., 1993; Reinert & Allen, 2007).
Developed by the WHO across six countries; a total of 8 or more indicates hazardous or harmful alcohol use, with higher bands suggesting probable dependence.
Example item
“How often do you have a drink containing alcohol?”
Illustrative only. During administration items are presented one screen-set at a time; response-key direction is never shown to respondents.
Scoring & interpretation
Item responses are summed to a total score and compared against published screening cutoffs.
| Band | Threshold | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Low risk | ≥ 0 | Total in the low-risk zone (0–7). Alcohol use is unlikely to be hazardous; reinforce low-risk drinking patterns. |
| Hazardous use | ≥ 8 | Total of 8 or more indicates hazardous or harmful alcohol use; brief intervention and further assessment are recommended. |
| Harmful use | ≥ 16 | Total of 16 or more falls in the harmful zone; brief counseling, continued monitoring, and further diagnostic evaluation are recommended. |
| Possible dependence | ≥ 20 | Total of 20 or more warrants further diagnostic evaluation for possible alcohol dependence. |
Source & citation
Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., de la Fuente, J. R., & Grant, M. (1993). Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption — II. Addiction, 88(6), 791–804. World Health Organization instrument, free for non-commercial use.
Scoring. Cutoff thresholds per Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001). AUDIT: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test — Guidelines for Use in Primary Care (2nd ed.). World Health Organization (a score of 8+ indicates hazardous or harmful use).
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) © World Health Organization (Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders & Monteiro, 2001). Free for non-commercial clinical and research use with attribution.
References
- Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., de la Fuente, J. R., & Grant, M. (1993). Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Addiction, 88(6), 791-804.
- Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001). AUDIT: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (2nd ed.). World Health Organization.
- Reinert, D. F., & Allen, J. P. (2007). The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: an update of research findings. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 31(2), 185-199.