The Discriminant Validity of Alcohol Use Disorder in Well-Functioning Men with Hazardous Alcohol Use

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the discriminant validity of alcohol use disorder (AUD) diagnoses within a population of well-functioning male heavy drinkers. A group of 57 subjects with a consumption of at least 28 alcoholic units (AU)/week was recruited from wine-tasting clubs. Within this group, a comparison was made between those individuals who met the criteria of AUD and those who did not. We compared the subjective and objective health status and drinking habits of both groups. No significant differences were found between the individuals with AUD and those without AUD, or between individuals with alcohol dependence and those without AUD, except for their drinking pattern. These findings raise doubt of the discriminant validity of AUD diagnoses in well-educated heavy wine drinkers.

The Bayesian Alcoholism Test had better diagnostic properties for confirming diagnosis of hazardous and harmful alcohol use

“…The remaining 11 subjects had been drinking !28 alcoholic units per week during the last 90 days. Other characteristics of this group have been described previously [39].…”

“…A second reason might be that wine drinkers are not representative of heavy drinkers in general. They smoke less than the general population and they might have fewer or lesser drinking problems, as indicated by CAGE, than the general population of heavy drinkers [39]. CAGE and smoking status influence the BAT score.…”

Craving and Withdrawal as Core Symptoms of Alcohol Dependence

“…The characteristics of this group have been described previously (de Bruijn et al, 2003). An important feature to consider is that these subjects were all well functioning.…”