Validation of the MINI (DSM IV) Tool for the Assessment of Alcohol Dependence among Young People in Northern Tanzania Using the Alcohol Biomarker Phosphatidylethanol (PEth)

Joel M. Francis, Anders Helander, Saidi H. Kapiga, Helen A. Weiss and Heiner Grosskurth
Additional contact information
Joel M. Francis: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Anders Helander: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm SE-141 86, Sweden
Saidi H. Kapiga: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Helen A. Weiss: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Heiner Grosskurth: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: The alcohol dependence section of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview questionnaire (MINI) has not been evaluated in young Africans. We applied the MINI in a cross-sectional study of 202 alcohol users from northern-Tanzania, aged 18–24 years (103 male casual workers and 99 students), and validated it against phophatidylethanol (PEth) at a cut-off suggesting heavy chronic alcohol use (?0.30 µmol/L). Blood was assayed for PEth (16:0/18:1-subform) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The MINI dependence criteria (?3 positive responses) were met by 39% participants although their PEth levels were low. Contrary, many young people with high PEth levels were not classified as dependent. The sensitivity of the MINI ranged from 0% to 69% (female students and male workers, respectively) and specificity from 52% to 85% (workers and female students, respectively). The highest AUROC (0.68) occurred with a cut-off of ?4 positive responses. A modified MINI with three affirmative responses to five questions increased specificity to 92%–97%; however, sensitivity remained low. The performance of the MINI in detecting dependence among young people from northern-Tanzania is unsatisfactory. Specificity was improved using a modified version but sensitivity remained low. An accurate tool for the diagnosis of alcohol dependence is needed for epidemiological and clinical purposes.

Keywords: MINI; DSM IV; AUDIT; PEth; alcohol dependence; young people; Tanzania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/11/14021/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/11/14021/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:11:p:14021-14033:d:58051

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().