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Monday, March 5, 2007



Letters to the Editor
Errors in Assessing DSM-IV Substance Use Disorders
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64:379-380.






Bridget F. Grant;
Wilson M. Compton;
Thomas J. Crowley;
Deborah S. Hasin;
John E. Helzer;
Ting-Kai Li;
Bruce J. Rounsaville;
Nora D. Volkow;
George E. Woody

Extract
In the June 2005 issue of the ARCHIVES, Kessler and colleagues1 reported results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a 2001-2002 US psychiatric epidemiology survey of DSM-IV mental and substance use disorders.2-4 Included are prevalences and associated features, such as treatment of current (last 12 months) disorders. Given the fundamental nature of this study and the potential policy relevance, it is essential that rates estimated by the study be accurate. We are concerned about the accuracy of the rates reported for alcohol and drug abuse and dependence disorders. The specific problem is that the study purports to apply DSM-IV criteria, but the questionnaire used by Kessler and colleagues, the World Mental Health–Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI),5 skips all respondents’ past questions on DSM-IV dependence if they do not respond positively to questions on DSM-IV abuse, effectively using abuse as a screen for . . .

E-mail: bgrant@mail.nih.gov
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