Screening-diagnostik von alkoholbezogenen störungen: Der Lübecker Alkoholabhängigkeits und -missbrauchs-Screening-Test (LAST)

In several settings, the identification of alcohol dependence or abuse has to be as brief as possible. Screening questionnaires have been found to be valid and reliable. To increase economy and sensitivity, the Luebeck Alcohol Dependence and Abuse Screening Test (LAST) was developed. The item pool consisting of the well-known questionnaires CAGE and Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) was reduced based on a sample of 1167 general hospital in-patients. The new questionnaire was validated in a second sample of 436 general hospital patients. A third sample of 774 patients was used to provide psychometric properties of the LAST in general practice settings. The new questionnaire proved to have advantages with respect to economy and sensitivity compared to the original questionnaires. The LAST revealed a sensitivity between 0.63 (general practice) and 0.87 (general hospital) with a specificity between 0.88 (general hospital) and 0.93 (general practice).