Three questions about how often and how much you drink, thinking of the past year, show whether your alcohol use is worth a closer look. It takes about a minute and gives a score from 0 to 12. It is a quick screen, not a diagnosis: a higher score is a reason to take the full AUDIT and talk to a professional.
3 questions
about 1 minutes
instant result
AUDIT-C: 3 questions. Fuller: AUDIT.
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What it measures
The AUDIT-C is the first three questions of the AUDIT, the alcohol screening test developed by the World Health Organization (Saunders, Aasland, Babor, de la Fuente and Grant, 1993). Bush, Kivlahan, McDonell, Fihn and Bradley (1998) tested these three questions on their own as a brief screen. They ask how often you drink, how many drinks you have on a typical drinking day and how often you have six or more drinks on one occasion. Each question scores 0 to 4, so the total is 0 to 12. The WHO interview version asks about the past year, so think of the past year when you answer. WHO counts one standard drink as about 10 to 13 grams of pure alcohol: a 330 ml bottle of beer at 5%, a 140 ml glass of wine at 12% or a 40 ml shot of spirits at 40%. Some versions, such as the one used by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, ask question 3 about four drinks for women and for everyone 65 and older; this page asks everyone about six.
This is not a diagnosis
Three questions about how much and how often you drink cannot show whether alcohol is a problem for you. They only show whether a closer look is worth it. Only a doctor or an addiction specialist can assess an alcohol use disorder, after a conversation.
What happens to your answers
Your score is calculated right in your browser. Your answers reach our server only if you ask for your result by email: we write the email and do not keep them.
AUDIT-C or the full AUDIT: which should I take?
The AUDIT-C is the first three of the ten AUDIT questions and only covers how often and how much you drink. The full AUDIT adds questions about signs of dependence and harm from drinking. If you want a fuller picture, or your score is high, take the ten-question version: Alcohol use test
What do I answer if I do not drink?
Answer Never to question 1, the lowest option to question 2 and Never to question 3. All three score 0, so your total is 0.
Why do sources give different cut-offs?
A cut-off balances missing risky drinking against flagging someone whose drinking is fine. The US Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense count 5 or more as a positive screen for everyone, a choice made to limit false positives. Studies of US clinic patients found the best balance of sensitivity and specificity at 4 or more in men and 3 or more in women (Bradley et al., 2007). Both come from US studies; other countries and drink sizes may differ.
Source: AUDIT-C: Bush K., Kivlahan D. R., McDonell M. B., Fihn S. D., Bradley K. A., 1998, The AUDIT alcohol consumption questions (AUDIT-C): an effective brief screening test for problem drinking, Archives of Internal Medicine 158(16), 1789-1795, DOI 10.1001/archinte.158.16.1789. AUDIT: Saunders J. B., Aasland O. G., Babor T. F., de la Fuente J. R., Grant M., 1993, Addiction 88(6), 791-804, DOI 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x. Text: questions 1 to 3 of the AUDIT, Self-Report Version (Box 10): 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., WHO/MSD/MSB/01.6a, World Health Organization (iris.who.int/handle/10665/67205). Reference points: US Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense (hepatitis.va.gov, AUDIT-C page, data as of March 2021) and Bradley K. A. et al., 2007, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31(7), 1208-1217, DOI 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00403.x.
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