> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getrivet.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AUDIT — Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test > The WHO's 10-item screen for hazardous and harmful alcohol use, with three subscales live-scored. The AUDIT is the most widely used alcohol-use screen in the world. WHO developed it for primary-care settings, and the same 10 items work in mental-health practice — at intake to set a baseline, during treatment to track change, or as the first formal step in an SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment) sequence. ## What it measures Hazardous and harmful alcohol use across three subscales: * **Consumption** (items 1–3) — frequency, typical quantity, frequency of heavy drinking. These three items are also published as a standalone brief screen ([AUDIT-C](/clinical-templates/substance/audit-c)). * **Dependence symptoms** (items 4–6) — loss of control, neglected obligations, morning drinking * **Alcohol-related problems** (items 7–10) — guilt, blackouts, injuries, others' concern ## When to send it * Intake substance-use baseline for any adult client * Routine re-screening during treatment that touches substance use * Pre/post for brief-intervention work * When a CAGE-AID or AUDIT-C surfaces a positive flag and you want the fuller picture The 10 items take about 3 minutes. Send it async or pull it up in-session on the practitioner-private notes panel — either way, the score lands as soon as the client submits. ## How Rivet scores it Sum of 10 items, range 0–40. Items 1–8 are 0–4 frequency scales; items 9 and 10 are 0/2/4 (No / Yes, not in the last year / Yes, in the last year). | Total | Band | | ----- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | 0–7 | Low risk | | 8–15 | Hazardous / harmful use | | 16–19 | Harmful drinking — brief intervention indicated | | 20–40 | Probable alcohol dependence — further evaluation indicated | The three subscales (Consumption 0–12, Dependence 0–12, Alcohol-related problems 0–16) each surface their own score alongside the total — useful when the subscale profile matters more than the headline number (high consumption with low dependence reads very differently from the inverse). ## Cutoffs * **≥8** — WHO hazardous-use threshold (the standard cutoff) * **≥7** sometimes used for women and adults 65+ (Reinert & Allen 2007) * **≥20** — probable dependence, further diagnostic evaluation ## AUDIT vs AUDIT-C, CAGE-AID and DAST-10 Four alcohol and drug screens, and the choice is mostly about how much time you have and what you need the answer for. * **vs [AUDIT-C](/clinical-templates/substance/audit-c)** — the first three AUDIT items, the consumption questions, on their own. It flags hazardous drinking in under a minute but tells you nothing about dependence symptoms or the problems the drinking is causing. Use it as a routine intake screen and follow a positive with the full AUDIT. * **vs [CAGE-AID](/clinical-templates/substance/cage-aid)** — four yes/no questions covering alcohol *and* drugs together. The fastest thing here and the least sensitive; it raises a flag rather than measuring severity. * **vs [DAST-10](/clinical-templates/substance/dast-10)** — the drug counterpart. The AUDIT covers alcohol only, so if substances other than alcohol are in the picture, DAST-10 is the companion instrument, not a substitute. * **vs [CRAFFT](/clinical-templates/substance/crafft)** — for clients aged 12 to 21. The AUDIT was validated in adults. The AUDIT is the one to reach for when you want severity rather than a flag: three subscales covering consumption, dependence and consequences, and bands that distinguish hazardous drinking from probable dependence. ## Is it free to use? **Yes.** The WHO's licence permits free reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes provided the source is cited. The citation travels with the template. ## Citation Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., de la Fuente, J. R., & Grant, M. (1993). Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption. *Addiction,* 88(6), 791–804. Manual: Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001). *The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: Guidelines for Use in Primary Care* (2nd ed.). World Health Organization. WHO licenses the AUDIT for free reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes provided the source is cited. ## When not to use it The AUDIT covers the past 12 months — it's a screening and severity tool, not a real-time monitoring instrument. For frequent re-administration during active treatment, the 3-item AUDIT-C captures consumption change on a shorter loop. For non-alcohol substances, use [DAST-10](/clinical-templates/substance/dast-10); for combined alcohol-and-drug screening in 4 items, use [CAGE-AID](/clinical-templates/substance/cage-aid). ## Related articles The 3-item consumption short-form. The drug-use counterpart for non-alcohol substances.