MAST and CAGE Questionnaire

Instruments such as the MAST and the CAGE questionnaires (see Appendix) were devised for their ability to distinguish chronic alcohol dependent people from non-alcohol dependent people. While their performance is good, in that 95% or more of chronic alcohol dependent people are detected, they are much less effective in detecting people with less severe drinking problems. Because of this limitation they are not advocated for screening in primary care settings.