Validation of the French version of the alcohol, smoking and substance involvement screening test (ASSIST) in the elderly

One hundred persons older than 65 years were recruited from clients attending a geriatric policlinic day care centre and from geriatric psychiatric facilities. Measures included ASSIST, Addiction Severity Index (ASI), Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-Plus), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Revised Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire-Smoking (RTQ) and MiniMental State(MMS).Concurrent validity was established with significant correlations between ASSIST scores, scores from ASI, AUDIT, RTQ, and significantly higher ASSIST scores for patients with a MINI-Plus diagnosis of abuse or dependence. The ASSIST questionnaire was found to have high internal consistency for the total substance involvement along with specific substance involvement as assessed by Cronbach’s α, ranging from 0.66, to 0.89 .The findings demonstrate that ASSIST is a valid screening test for identifying substance use disorders in elderly.Despite the importance of substance use disorders amongst the elderly and possible late onset of these disorders, it seems that this health issue is underscreened and frequently unnoticed in clinical settings [1-6]. This appears to be of concern for substance use impact on general and mental health. Furthermore, the pattern of drug use has changed, during the last decade, with an increasing illicit drug involvement in older adults seeking substance abuse treatment [2].The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified tobacco, alcohol, and prohibited drugs use as amongst the top20 risk factors of ill-health [7]. This consideration has led the WHO to adopt a public-health approach for the issue, aiming to improve screening for substance use as well as early intervention for the problem [7].To achieve the above mentioned aim, it is crucial to develop a reliable and user friendly screening instrument. In fact, the existing screening instruments have several limitations for the use in primary care settings [8]. For example, the Addiction