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Biomedical subjects

K Antons

Publications and source records attributed to K Antons.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Diagnosis of alcoholism: the Munich Alcoholism Test (MALT).

The purpose of our project was to develop and empirically test a diagnostic instrument which would permit sufficiently reliable differentiation between alcoholics and healthy as well as sick persons and which would also be easy and economical to administer. For this purpose, roughly 250 diagnostically relevant items were selected from the extensive literature on alcoholism and, with a total of 1335 patients (661 of these were alcoholics), were evaluated in three separate phases for their ability to differentiate. The best items were selected on the basis of various statistical criteria and then cross-validated. The result is the Munich Alcoholism Test (MAT) which consists of two complementary parts: a 7-item physician's assessment part and a 24-item self-assessment part. In a cross-validation study on 675 unselected in- and outpatients a validity of r = 0.94 was obtained. The reliability of the self-assessment part was r = 0.84.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

[Diagnosis of alcoholism. The Munich Alcoholism test (MALT) (author's transl)].

From the extensive literature on alcoholism 250 relevant diagnostic items were selected and tested for their selectivity in 3 independent inquiries among 1335 patients (661 of them alcoholic), both outpatients and inpatients. The outcome is a two-part test: a section of 7 questions answered by the doctor and a self-assessment section comprising 24 questions answered by the patient. Its validity (validity of the whole test r=0.85) and reliability (reliability of the self-assessment section r=0.94) are high. A diagnosis of alcoholism made according to the usual clinical aspects was confirmed in 90% of 675 unselected medical, surgical and psychiatric patients and alcoholism was suspected in a further 8%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

[A short questionnaire for problem drinkers. An empirical analysis (author's transl)].

This short questionnaire for alcoholics (KFA) has so far been used as an aid for the clinical diagnosis of alcoholism. In the presented empirical study the KFA was tested on its efficiency as an independent diagnostic instrument for the identification of alcoholics. The questionnaire was given to 120 male alcoholics and 80 male controls (nonalcoholic inpatients). Its validity (correlation of test scores by independent criterion) of r = 0.81 with a reliability of r = 0.94 is fairly high, considering the nature of our control group being inpatients in contrast to the normally used healthy controls. A further improvement of discrimination could be achieved in weighting certain items. On this basis given a cutting score of 6 points the misclassifications in both alcoholics and controls could be reduced to 4%. Allowing this error rate the KFA can be considered a suitable test for the identification of alcoholics.

Alcoholism↗