Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Christian-Doppler-Hospital, Paracelsus-Medical University, A-5020, Salzburg, Austria.
Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2013 Sep-Oct;35(5):561-4. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2013.04.018. Epub 2013 Jul 6.
Surveys assessing alcohol use among physicians have most commonly employed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) or the AUDIT-C, the most common short version of the AUDIT. As with other screeners, prevalence estimation is dependent on the accuracy of the test as well as choice of the cutoff value. The aim of the current study is to derive more precise prevalence estimates of alcohol problems in physicians by correcting for false-positive and false-negative results.
In the context of a survey, the AUDIT was sent out via email or standard postal service to all 2484 physicians in Salzburg, Austria. A total of 456 physicians participated. A published correction formula was used to estimate the real prevalence of alcohol use problems.
Applying a cutoff of 5 points for the AUDIT-C, 15.7% of female and 37.7% of male physicians screened positive. Use of a correction based on general population data and the sensitivity and specificity of the AUDIT-C resulted in much lower prevalence rates: 4.0% for female and 9.5% for male physicians. Using the full AUDIT, 19.6% of the female physicians and 48% of the male physicians were screened positive. Using the correction, the estimated prevalence rates for females and males were 6.3% and 15.5%, respectively.
Our findings demonstrate that uncorrected screening results may markedly overestimate the prevalence of physicians drinking problems.
评估医生饮酒情况的调查多采用酒精使用障碍识别测试（AUDIT）或 AUDIT-C，这是 AUDIT 的最常用短版本。与其他筛查工具一样，患病率估计取决于测试的准确性以及截止值的选择。本研究的目的是通过纠正假阳性和假阴性结果，更准确地估计医生的酒精问题患病率。
在一项调查中，通过电子邮件或标准邮寄服务向奥地利萨尔茨堡的 2484 名医生发送 AUDIT。共有 456 名医生参与。使用已发表的校正公式来估计真实的酒精使用问题患病率。
使用 AUDIT-C 的 5 分截止值，15.7%的女性和 37.7%的男性医生筛查阳性。使用基于一般人群数据的校正以及 AUDIT-C 的敏感性和特异性，得出的患病率要低得多：女性为 4.0%，男性为 9.5%。使用完整的 AUDIT，19.6%的女性医生和 48%的男性医生筛查阳性。使用校正后，女性和男性的估计患病率分别为 6.3%和 15.5%。
我们的研究结果表明，未经校正的筛查结果可能会显著高估医生饮酒问题的患病率。
