AUDIT-C: alcohol
Three questions on how often and how much alcohol was drunk in the past year: the first three questions of the World Health Organization’s AUDIT, validated as a short screen by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Each answer carries its published points, the total runs from 0 to 12, and the result shows the published cut-offs, which differ for women and men. A score can be kept with its date, so a later score sits beside the earlier one.
Free, with no sign-in. What you enter stays in this browser; EBL never receives it. All of EBL’s questionnaires are listed on Questionnaires.
The questionnaire
The questionnaire needs JavaScript turned on in this browser.
What the score means, in the authors’ words
Scores run from 0 to 12.
- 0 to 0: A score of 0 reflects no alcohol use.
- 1 to 2: Below both published cut-offs: 3 for women, 4 for men.
- 3 to 3: At the cut-off for women. In women, a score of 3 or more is considered positive; in men, the cut-off is 4.
- 4 to 12: At or above the cut-off for both. In men, a score of 4 or more is considered positive; in women, 3 or more. The VA’s scoring adds that the higher the score, the more likely it is that drinking is affecting health and safety.
The three questions are the first three of the World Health Organization’s AUDIT. In VA patients they detected heavy drinking as well as the full ten-question AUDIT. In a family practice study of 392 men and 927 women, a score of 4 or more in men found alcohol misuse with a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 89%, and 3 or more in women with 73% and 91%.
The AUDIT-C is a screening questionnaire. It asks how often and how much; whether drinking is a disorder is a clinician’s assessment.
Related on EBL
- Alcohol reduction: the evidence EBL grades on drinking less
Source and terms of use
- Bush K, Kivlahan DR, McDonell MB, Fihn SD, Bradley KA. The AUDIT alcohol consumption questions (AUDIT-C): an effective brief screening test for problem drinking. Arch Intern Med. 1998;158(16):1789-1795. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.158.16.1789
- Bradley KA, DeBenedetti AF, Volk RJ, Williams EC, Frank D, Kivlahan DR. AUDIT-C as a brief screen for alcohol misuse in primary care. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2007;31(7):1208-1217. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00403.x
- US Department of Veterans Affairs. AUDIT-C questionnaire and scoring. https://www.hepatitis.va.gov/alcohol/treatment/audit-c.asp
Terms of use: As a WHO-approved instrument, the AUDIT is in the public domain. No permission is needed for non-commercial use, and the person completing it is not to be charged a fee: this page is free and needs no sign-in. (as stated here, checked 2026-11). The questions, answers and points are reproduced as published.
Offered free, with no sign-in. The AUDIT’s authors allow non-commercial use without permission and ask that the person completing it is not charged a fee, so it is not placed behind paid membership.
How it works
Where the questions, points and cut-off come from
The questions, the answers and the points for each answer are the authors’ own, reproduced as published, and the source papers are listed with the questionnaire. The page adds them up and prints, beside the total, the authors’ own words about that range of scores. EBL adds no interpretation of its own.
A kept score is stored with its date. Kept scores are listed by date with the change from the one before. A change shows what moved, not why.
What happens to your data
Nothing you enter leaves this device. Your answers and any score you keep are saved in this browser’s own storage, nothing is sent to EBL or anyone else, Because EBL holds no copy, clearing this browser’s site data removes them for good.