THE AUDIT-C: A BETTER SCREEN THAN THE AUDIT TO IDENTIFY PRIMARY CHILD CARERS AT RISK OF ALCOHOL ABUSE IN THE ASENZE STUDY, KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA
METHODS . The 10 question AUDIT was used to screen for hazardous and harmful use of alcohol and the abbreviated AUDIT-C was used to identify binge drinking. Correlates between a positive AUDIT and AUDIT-C screen and alcohol abuse were investigated using bivariate and multivariate analyses.
RESULTS . Of the 1434 carers, 97.8% of whom were females 16.0% (228) reported alcohol consumption, with 12.7%, (n=182) drinking occasionally, 2.2% (n=32) reported hazardous use of alcohol and 1.0% (n=14) indicated harmful use of alcohol. Screening using the AUDIT-C s rather than the AUDIT increased the number of carers identified at risk of alcohol abuse through binge drinking from 46 (3.2%) to 130 (9.1%) (p<0.005). For both the AUDIT-C and AUDIT instruments protective factors against alcohol abuse included no child with a serious disability, OR 0.49, (95% CI: 0.27,0.89), and a monthly food budget > $US 60, OR 0.39 (0.20,0.74). A risk factor for alcohol abuse was cigarette smoking OR 7.48, (95% CI: 3.27,17.11) Other protective factors for the AUDIT were no alcohol consumption whilst pregnant, OR 0.40, (95% CI: 0.16,0.98) and no psychiatric disorders amongst carers, OR 0.53, (95% CI 0.29,0.96).
CONCLUSIONS Although low rates of alcohol abuse were detected overall, the AUDIT-C detected higher rates of problem drinking and may be a more appropriate screen to adopt in screening carers of children for alcohol abuse.