LONGITUDINAL VALIDITY OF THE CAGE QUESTIONNAIRE

The CAGE questions were administered as part of the Health and Lifesty le survey to 4000 individuals on two occasions with a gap of seven yea rs between surveys. Because the CAGE questions ask, ''Have you ever .. .?'' a positive response on the first occasion should result in a posi tive response to the same question on any subsequent occasion. Althoug h overall the proportion giving positive responses to the CAGE questio ns was similar in both surveys, the consistency between surveys of pos itive answers to individual questions was poor, ranging between 44% an d 82% of individuals answering ''No'' to a question which they had pre viously answered positively. Men were a little more likely than women to give consistent answers. It is suggested that the CAGE questions ar e often not answered correctly which raises doubt about their value in longitudinal population surveys and as an individual screening tool.