Utilidad del cuestionario MALT (M³nchner Alkoholismus Test) para el diagn¾stico de alcoholismo en mujeres.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patients identified as risk drinkers usually fill a questionnaire in order to assess their alcohol dependence. In our setting, the M³nchner Alkoholismus Test (MALT) has been recommended, but there are not enough data about its validity and accuracy, particularly in women. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of this test in a female population. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: 414 woman were recruited in a Health Center and a Specialized Center for addiction treatment. MALT test and the Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) semistructured interview (gold standard; DSM-IV and CIE-10 criteria) were performed to all patients. Internal consistence, criteria validity and the most diagnostic efficacy cut-off point (ROC curves) were assessed. RESULTS: The MALT average (standard deviation) score of the whole sample was 3.98 (9.48) points (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.07-4.90). Cronbach alpha was 0.939 (95% CI, 0.931-0.947). With a score of 4 or more points, the test had 100% (95% CI, 98.9-100) sensitivity and 95.4% (95% CI, 95.2-95.5) specificity. CONCLUSIONS: The MALT test has an excellent internal reliability and extremely good diagnostic accuracy. It is very useful to detect alcohol dependence in women. A cut-off of 4 or more points is proposed.