CONCORDANCE OF DSM-IV ALCOHOL AND DRUG-USE DISORDER CRITERIA AND DIAGNOSES AS MEASURED BY AUDADIS-ADR, CIDI AND SCAN

This study was designed to examine the agreement of DSM-IV alcohol and drug use disorder diagnoses generated by three WHO/NIH diagnostic ins truments, the AUDADIS-ADR, the CIDI, and the SCAN. This substudy, cond ucted in three countries, Greece; Luxembourg, and the United States: w as parr of the larger joint project on diagnosis and classification of mental disorders and alcohol and drug-related problems, which was ini tiated to evaluate the cross-cultural applicability of the instruments and the criteria. Overall, concordance among the three assessments wa s good for alcohol and opiate dependence, fair to good for cocaine and sedative dependence, and low for amphetamine dependence. Cannabis dep endence concordance was significantly more discrepant than any other s ubstance. Agreement on abuse was low for all substances examined. In a ddition, the concordance of DSM-IV criteria for each substance was exa mined. Finally, reasons for discrepancies in responses among assessmen ts were examined: based on discrepancy interview protocol methodology. Further investigation will help to refine these instruments in order to provide a more thorough understanding of alcohol and drug abuse dia gnoses. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.