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Table 3 AUDIT-C threshold for drinking above weekly limits (male)

From: Validation of the AUDIT-C in adults seeking help with their drinking online

AUDIT-C score

Sensitivity  % (95% CI)

Specificity  % (95% CI)

LR+a (95% CI)

LR−b (95% CI)

Sensitivity + specificity

% Correctly classified (95% CI)

≥2

99.93 (99.62, 100.0)

2.81 (0.92, 6.43)

1.03 (0.43, 2.44)

0.02 (0.00, 0.14)

102.74

89.35 (87.75, 90.81)

≥3

99.86 (99.50, 99.98)

7.30 (3.95, 12.17)

1.08 (0.64, 1.82)

0.02 (0.01, 0.08)

107.16

89.78 (88.21, 91.21)

≥4

99.66 (99.20, 99.89)

11.80 (7.45, 17.47)

1.13 (0.76, 1.69)

0.03 (0.01, 0.07)

111.46

90.09 (88.53, 91.49)

≥5*

99.18 (98.56, 99.57)

25.28 (19.08, 32.33)

1.33 (1.03, 1.71)

0.03 (0.02, 0.05)

124.46

91.13 (89.64, 92.46)

≥6

96.09 (94.96, 97.02)

40.45 (33.17, 48.05)

1.61 (1.35, 1.92)

0.10 (0.08, 0.13)

136.54

90.02 (88.47, 91.44)

≥7

90.25 (88.61, 91.72)

53.93 (46.32, 61.42)

1.96 (1.71, 2.25)

0.18 (0.14, 0.22)

144.18

86.29 (84.53, 87.92)

≥8**

82.14 (80.08, 84.08)

66.29 (58.84, 73.19)

2.44 (2.19, 2.72)

0.27 (0.21, 0.34)

148.43

80.42 (78.41, 82.31)

≥9

63.19 (60.65, 65.67)

80.34 (73.73, 85.91)

3.21 (2.96, 3.49)

0.46 (0.34, 0.62)

143.53

65.06 (62.69, 67.37)

≥10

41.21 (38.67, 43.79)

88.20 (82.53, 92.55)

3.49 (3.22, 3.79)

0.67 (0.45, 1.00)

129.41

46.33 (43.89, 48.78)

  1. Drinking >21 units of alcohol in past week
  2. *The most accurate AUDIT-C cut-off score for identifying risky drinkers
  3. **The ‘optimal’ AUDIT-C cut-off score for identifying risky drinkers
  4. aLR+ positive likelihood ratio
  5. bLR− negative likelihood ratio