Validation of the "CAGE" alcoholism screening test in a Brazilian psychiatric inpatient hospital setting.

TLDR

The study provides the Portuguese translation of the 14‑question CAGE questionnaire, including its four core items. The authors aim to determine optimal cut‑off points for the Portuguese CAGE and to emphasize the need for further validation in non‑hospital populations. The Portuguese CAGE was administered to 68 alcoholic and 46 non‑alcoholic male inpatients at a São Paulo psychiatric hospital. At a cut‑off of two positive responses, the test achieved 88 % sensitivity and 83 % specificity, while a cut‑off of three increased specificity to 94 % at the cost of 81 % sensitivity, and these results are consistent with those of the English version, supporting its use in Brazil.

Abstract

A Portuguese version of the CAGE alcoholism screening test was administered to 68 alcoholic and 46 non-alcoholic male inpatients in a Psychiatric Hospital in São Paulo. The Portuguese text of the 14 questions, 4 of which were CAGE questions, is provided. When a score of two positive responses to any of the 4 CAGE questions was taken as a positive test result, the sensitivity of the test was 88% and the specificity was 83%. Increasing the cut-off point to 3 positive responses decreased the sensitivity to 81% and increased the specificity to 94%. The importance of cut-off points is discussed. The similarity between our data and results obtained with the English language CAGE test in other countries suggests that the CAGE questionnaire could be a useful tool for screening alcoholics in Brazil. The need for further validation studies in non-hospital populations is discussed.