Screening tool

AUDIT-C — the alcohol-use screening questionnaire

The AUDIT-C is a three-question screen for unhealthy alcohol use, drawn from the WHO's AUDIT. It asks about how often you drink, how much on a typical day, and how often you drink heavily. It produces a total from 0 to 12 and is a screen, not a diagnosis; the positive cutoff differs by sex. It is the same questionnaire many clinicians use to open a conversation about drinking at a visit, so completing it here shows you what your provider measures and helps you prepare.

AUDIT-C — the alcohol-consumption questions of the WHO Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Bush et al., 1998). Public domain (WHO-derived).

Who is this for?

Adults 18 and older who want a quick, structured way to look at their drinking and, if it helps, bring it to a clinician. It is a screen, not a diagnosis, and a positive result is a prompt for a conversation, not a label.

This page is educational. It reproduces the published questionnaire and its published scoring so you can see what it asks and how clinicians read it. It does not diagnose any condition, recommend treatment, or replace a clinician’s evaluation. If you complete it here, your answers stay on your device and are not stored unless you choose to save the result to your own Gale record.

Before you begin

A validated screening questionnaire — not a diagnosis. Only a licensed clinician can diagnose. It is the same questionnaire a provider may use at a visit — completing it here is for your own understanding and preparation. Validated for adults 18 and older. The published cutoff differs by sex, and you can skip that question. Your answers stay on this device unless you choose to save them. 3 questions · about 1 minute.

3 questions · about 1 minute

How the AUDIT-C is scored

Please answer for the past year. The three questions and their point values:

1. How often did you have a drink containing alcohol in the past year?

Never0
Monthly or less1
2 to 4 times a month2
2 to 3 times a week3
4 or more times a week4

2. How many drinks containing alcohol did you have on a typical day when you were drinking in the past year?

1 or 20
3 or 41
5 or 62
7 to 93
10 or more4

3. How often did you have six or more drinks on one occasion in the past year?

Never0
Less than monthly1
Monthly2
Weekly3
Daily or almost daily4

The total is the sum of the three answers, from 0 to 12.

AUDIT-C — the alcohol-consumption questions of the WHO Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Bush et al., 1998). Public domain (WHO-derived).

What your score means

A total of 4 or higher is a positive screen for men; 3 or higher for women. The validation samples used sex assigned at birth.

There are no graded severity bands; a positive screen is a prompt for a fuller conversation, not a diagnosis.

How accurate is it?

A total of 4 or higher is a positive screen for men; 3 or higher for women. The validation samples used sex assigned at birth.

In the male veterans where the AUDIT-C was derived, about 86 of every 100 heavy drinkers scored 4 or higher, and about 28 of every 100 people who were not heavy drinkers also scored that high — a false positive. 1Ref 1Bush K, Kivlahan DR, McDonell MB, Fihn SD, Bradley KA (1998).The AUDIT alcohol consumption questions (AUDIT-C): an effective brief screening test for problem drinking.Derivation of the three-item AUDIT-C from the AUDIT; in male VA primary care patients a cut point of 4 gave 86% sensitivity and 72% specificity for heavy drinking and/or active alcohol abuse or dependence.

A per-band number-needed-to-evaluate could not be sourced for this instrument, so the personal result is shown as a score with the published ranges below rather than a single band label.

Bringing your results to your provider

A screening result is most useful in a conversation with a clinician who knows you. It is not a verdict and it does not decide a diagnosis or a treatment — only a licensed clinician can do that, after a fuller evaluation. What a result can do is give you a concrete, structured way to describe what you have been noticing.

When you complete the AUDIT-C above, Gale drafts a short set of talking points from your answers — the number, the published interpretation, how long the symptoms have been present, and a few questions to ask. You can read them out at a visit, or save the result and bring it along. The point is not the label; it is that you walk in able to advocate for yourself with something specific to say.

Common questions

Why does the AUDIT-C cutoff depend on sex?

The validation studies found different optimal thresholds — 4 or higher for men and 3 or higher for women — using sex assigned at birth. If you skip the sex question, the tool shows both thresholds and asserts no single result.

Is a positive AUDIT-C a diagnosis?

No. It is a brief screen for unhealthy alcohol use. A positive screen suggests a conversation about drinking is worthwhile; only a clinician can assess an alcohol use disorder.

What counts as a drink?

A standard drink is roughly one 12-oz beer, one 5-oz glass of wine, or one 1.5-oz shot of spirits. If you are unsure, answer with your best estimate and mention the uncertainty to your clinician.

Is this the questionnaire my provider will use?

It may be. The AUDIT-C is one of the most widely used alcohol-use screens in primary care, so your provider may use this questionnaire or a different one. Completing it here shows you what it measures, and bringing your total can start the conversation.

Sources

1.Bush K, Kivlahan DR, McDonell MB, Fihn SD, Bradley KA (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 ✓Derivation of the three-item AUDIT-C from the AUDIT; in male VA primary care patients a cut point of 4 gave 86% sensitivity and 72% specificity for heavy drinking and/or active alcohol abuse or dependence.
2.Bradley KA, DeBenedetti AF, Volk RJ, Williams EC, Frank D, Kivlahan DR (2007). AUDIT-C as a brief screen for alcohol misuse in primary care. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 31(7): 1208-1217. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00403.x ✓Establishes the sex-specific AUDIT-C positive-screen thresholds used here: >=4 for men and >=3 for women, the validation samples having used sex assigned at birth.

2 sources, numbered by first appearance. Every entry verified 2026-06-11 against PubMed / PMC / publisher pages (214 in the full bibliography).