Accuracy of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test for screening of alcoholism in patients of a medical department.

To measure the applicability and validity of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test in a medical hospital department situated in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the test was administered to 300 patients. The results of the test were validated in relation to the clinical diagnosis of alcohol abuse or alcoholism through a concordance analysis. The applicability rate was 89% and the agreement between test and clinical diagnosis was good, especially in young men. Positive and negative predictive values of the test were 0.69 and 0.92, respectively. These results suggest, therefore, that the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test could be considered as a standardized, valuable, and transcultural screening and research instrument.