CAGE Alcohol Screener
CAGE alcohol-use screen (Ewing 1984): four yes/no items (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye-opener), each 0 or 1; total 0-4.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- CAGE item 1
- 1
- CAGE item 2
- 1
- CAGE item 3
- 0
- CAGE item 4
- 0
Result: Score 2 of 4 = Positive.
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- >=2
- Two or more positive responses is clinically significant for problem drinking.
- 0-1
- Below the CAGE threshold; does not exclude an alcohol use disorder.
What you enter
- CAGE item 1 (0 or 1)
- CAGE item 2 (0 or 1)
- CAGE item 3 (0 or 1)
- CAGE item 4 (0 or 1)
What this is
Score the four-question CAGE alcohol-use disorder screen: have you ever felt the need to Cut down on drinking, been Annoyed by criticism of your drinking, felt Guilty about drinking, or needed a morning drink (Eye-opener) to steady nerves or treat a hangover. Each yes is one point. A score of 2 or more is the standard positive cutoff and warrants a more detailed alcohol-use assessment such as AUDIT or the SBIRT brief intervention pathway.
When to use it
Use this during a primary-care or behavioral-health intake, during a pre-procedure or pre-operative evaluation when withdrawal risk needs to be triaged, or when an ED patient presents with a syndrome (trauma, GI bleed, pancreatitis, unexplained AST/ALT ratio above 2) that should prompt alcohol-use screening. The CAGE is brief and well-validated for detecting alcohol-use disorder, but it is less sensitive for at-risk drinking patterns; pair it with AUDIT-C or AUDIT-10 when the goal is to catch heavy drinking that has not yet caused functional impairment.
How this is calculated
Ewing JA. CAGE Questionnaire. JAMA. 1984;252(14):1905-1907. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.
More in Behavioral health.