Audit Score Calculator - WHO Alcohol Test

The Audit Score Calculator makes it easy for you to quickly assess if your drinking pattern is harmful or hazardous. It's only the matter of answering all the questions of this alcohol test - you'll know your score immediately. A discussion of your result is included as well. Apart from filling in the Audit alcohol screen, you can get familiar with the terms describing alcohol-related problems, such as risk drinking or binge drinking. Give the Audit test a chance, especially if you're a little concerned about your alcohol consumption - it is never too late to make a change.

Audit alcohol screen (short for alcohol use disorder identification test) is a 10-item screening tool, developed and supported by the World Health Organization. It is a reliable and simple tool, sensitive to early detection of alcohol misuse, such as risk drinking or alcohol dependence. We can call it 'the big brother' of the widely known and used Audit-C alcohol test. In comparison, this full Audit contains more questions and refers to more aspects of drinking, while the Audit-C focuses on - as the name suggests - alcohol consumption.
Medical professionals can use the Audit test to verify if a patient is consuming alcohol in a hazardous manner, but it also works fine for self-assessment, if you honestly answer all of the questions.

• The Audit test comprises of 10 questions, scored 0-4 for first eight questions and 0, 2 or 4 for the last two. This alcohol test can be divided into three categories.

• Important - if you answer 'Never' to the first question OR your answers to both the second and third questions are scored 0, you can skip the most of the alcohol test and jump straight to the questions 9 & 10.

• Questions 1-3 comprise the Consumption section. These three items also make up a separate alcohol test, the Audit-C test. A high score from this part (over 6 points for women or 7 for men) may indicate a risk of alcohol-related harm to the person affected or to others around them - even if it is the total Audit score. A significant score may occur if you exceed the alcohol consumption limits or drink in dangerous situations (such as driving!).

• Questions 4-6 create a Dependency score. The sum of these three questions make up the secondary dependence score, which shows the possibility of alcohol dependence. The cut-off point is 4 - any result from this section over four points is alarming.

• Two last questions of the Audit test make up the Alcohol-related problems score. Any point in that part is a red flag and requires further investigation.

All you have to do is to read the questions carefully and answer them, selecting the answer that fits you the most.

You may have noticed the term 'drink' in the third question. Be careful, as the standard drink measure is not that intuitive. Generally, for the US, a standard drink means a 12 fl oz regular beer, a 5 fl oz glass of wine or one 1.5 fl oz shot of spirit. We encourage you to get more familiar with this concept in the standard drink calculator, which will count and sum up all of your drinks for you. If in your country uses 'Alcohol units' instead, check out the alcohol units calculator for the same purpose.

If you are a medical worker, consider asking all your patients to fill out the Audit-C score as a part of taking their standard medical history. If the result of that test concerns you, you can complete the assessment with the whole Audit alcohol screen.

Final result: 0-7 points for men or 0-6 points for women

Congratulations! Your result means that you are at a low risk of problems related to drinking alcohol and are unlikely to cause yourself future harm. Continue drinking in moderation or not at all.

Final result: 8-15 for men or 7-15 for women

This score places you in the moderate risk of harm (to yourself and others) group. It may indicate a hazardous or risky alcohol drinking pattern. Consider talking to your GP or another trusted person about the matter. You may also take some steps on your own, like setting yourself an alcohol limit or carefully self-monitoring your drinking.

Final result: 16-19

If your result from the Audit score calculator is in this range, your drinking is definitely not safe anymore. This is a harmful level of drinking and, if continued, will eventually lead to severe consequences - bodily, mentally and socially - if it hasn't already. You may also already be alcohol-dependent. It is strongly advised that you seek professional help and cut down on alcohol immediately.

Final result: >19

Your drinking is causing harm - either to yourself or to those that surround you. It is also very likely that you are alcohol-dependent, or are, at the very least, at risk of dependence. You should definitely seek medical help as soon as possible. Stopping drinking cold turkey at this level may cause severe withdrawal symptoms, so talk to your doctor or addiction professional before quitting alcohol - which we still encourage you to do!

Dependence score (questions 4-6)

Any point from this section is disturbing and suggests alcohol dependence. However, scoring 4 or more should be a wake-up call - seek medical advice!

Alcohol-related problems score (questions 9 & 10)

Any point scored in this part is a red flag. Your drinking is harmful right now, and, if you continue to do so, it will lead to severe consequences. Reach out for professional help.

• Binge drinking - in general, binge drinking is excessive alcohol consumption with the intention to become intoxicated. We can also define it more strictly - the US it is regularly "drink five (men) or four (women) standard drinks over a two-hour period" or "a drinking pattern that brings a person's BAC (blood alcohol concentration) to 0.08 grams percent or above" (source: CDC). WHO defines it as "consuming 60g of pure alcohol or more on one occasion".

This is the most common pattern of excessive alcohol use, mainly presented by young adults. It's often overlooked and perceived as 'social drinking' or 'having fun'. However, binge drinking (even if you don't fail your professional tasks) can lead to severe consequences just as often as chronic, daily drinking.

• Risk drinking (hazardous drinking) - means drinking at a level that puts you at risk of medical or social problems. Illustrated in numbers - for men it is drinking more than 14 standard drinks per week, or more than four on any occasion - and for women - more than seven per week and more than three on any occasion. What differentiates risk drinking from harmful drinking is that in the latter case, the adverse effects already exist.

• Alcohol dependence - commonly called alcoholism, this is the most dangerous type of alcohol misuse and is characterised by a strong, often uncontrollable, desire to drink. For someone who is alcohol dependent, alcohol is their main priority. That's also because of the built-up of a physical tolerance - a person will feel withdrawal symptoms if they stop. Alcohol dependence levels range from mild to severe and affect people of all strata of society - the poor, homeless alcoholic is not valid anymore.

If you are looking for another convenient tool to help you identify drug-related problems, check out DUDIT calculator.

Although the Audit alcohol screen is well-validated, and the only screening test specifically designed for international use, it is not the only alcohol test that exists.

1. CAGE questionnaire - a 4-item short test (to be done in less than a minute), sensitive to the signs of alcoholism. The name is an acronym, formed from the words appearing in the questions: Cut-Annoyed-Guilty-Eye.

2. CRAFFT (Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Friends, Trouble) - a brief assessment designed especially for adolescents, works for both alcohol and drug use. It's a professional tool, mostly used by psychiatrists, which is being refined all the time - at the time of writing, we are on CRAFFT version 2.1.

3. Paddington alcohol test - created for patients attending accident and emergency departments, used for a quick assessment. Takes on average twenty seconds - so has an advantage over the Audit test in acute cases - and is sensitive to alcohol-related problems.

4. SADS-Q - stands for Severity Of Alcohol Dependence-Questionnaire. Helps identify the presence and severity of alcohol dependence. It takes more time - it has 20 questions and goes straight to withdrawal symptoms questions.