THE CAGE QUESTIONNAIRE AND THE SHORT MICHIGAN ALCOHOL SCREENING-TEST IN TRAUMA PATIENTS - COMPARISON OF THEIR CORRELATIONS WITH BIOLOGICAL ALCOHOL MARKERS

Study Objectives: To explore and compare the sex-specific correlation of two standard behavioral screening instruments, the Short Michigan A lcohol Screening Test (SMAST) and the CAGE, with a weighted scale that combines the three most commonly used biological alcohol markers (blo od alcohol level, mean corpuscular volume, and gamma-glutamyltransfera se level). Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting: Regional level I trauma center, in Seattle, Washington. Participants: 1980 male and 602 female patients 18 years of age or older, admitted with blunt or p enetrating trauma. Main Results: Spearman rank correlations were used to compare the two screening measures with the weighted scale. The CAG E was found to correlate better than the SMAST with the weighted combi nation. Correlations for both measures were higher in women than in me n. Among the individual biological alcohol markers used to construct t he weighted scale, blood alcohol level was the marker that displayed t he strongest correlation with both the CAGE and the SMAST. Conclusion: We conclude that the CAGE questionnaire showed a higher correlation w ith a combination of biological alcohol markers than did the SMAST, an d that the CAGE may be the questionnaire of choice for identification of alcohol problems in patients seen in trauma centers.