Questionable generalisability of the AUDIT-C with Danilo Romero

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Danilo Romero, a licensed clinical psychologist at the Stockholm Centre for Dependency Disorders in Sweden. The interview covers his research report on the questionable generalisability of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption (AUDIT-C) when used as an outcome measure in clinical trials than as a primary care screening tool, highlighting the need for researchers and clinicians to reconsider their application of the AUDIT-C.

· What is the AUDIT-C and why it is widely used in primary care and research? [01:13]

· What made the authors question the generalisability of the AUDIT-C in clinical trials? [02:02]

· The risks of using the AUDIT-C in clinical settings [03:03]

· The reason for the ‘ceiling effect’ of the AUDIT-C [04:21]

· How the authors tested whether the AUDIT-C is useful in measuring treatment progress [05:15]

· The key findings of the study [06:06]

· What ‘collider bias’ is and how it could manifest in studies that use the AUDIT-C [06:59]

· What the findings mean for studies that have used AUDIT-C in the past [09:23]

· How the findings contribute to policy or practice [10:30]

· Whether the authors, as clinical psychologists, personally use the AUDIT-C [11:28]

· Birds eye view of psychiatric screening measures [12:40]

About Tsen Vei Lim: Tsen Vei is an academic fellow supported by the Society for the Study of Addiction, currently based at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. His research integrates computational modelling, experimental psychology, and neuroimaging to understand the neuropsychological basis of addictive behaviours. He holds a PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Bath (UK).

About Danilo Romero: Dr Romero, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist at the Stockholm Centre for Dependency Disorders in Sweden. He recently completed his doctorate at Karolinska Institutet, conducting a multimethod project to improve treatment engagement for substance use disorders after acute-care episodes. More broadly, his research covers digital psychiatry, mental health informatics, psychometrics, and novel psychological interventions for substance use disorders.

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Original article: Questionable generalizability of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption scoring warrants caution when used for outcome monitoring: Evidence from simulated and real-world trial data - https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70074

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