The four coded questions doctors ask to uncover a hidden alcohol problem READ MORE: Booze-free Britain: A quarter of adults are now tee-total By Emma Nelson For Mailonline Published: 11:10 BST, 16 September 2024 | Updated: 11:14 BST, 16 September 2024 e-mail View comments Experts today warned of a 'hidden epidemic' of alcoholism among a demographic you may not expect to be affected. Middle-aged and retired people are drinking harmful levels of booze and putting themselves at risk of a host of diseases, including cancer and depression , as a result. Latest NHS figures show that 23 per cent of women aged 55-64 drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week — the amount known to dramatically increase cancer risk, and chances of developing dependency.
But many fail to recognise they have a problem because their body hasn't yet become reliant on alcohol, causing the telltale shakes, warned psychiatrist, Dr Max Pemberton in the Daily Mail this week . But experts have revealed the simple test that doctors use to spot a hidden, 'functioning' alcoholic. Doctors have been using the CAGE test - which stands for Cut, Annoyed, Guilty and Eye, relating to each question - to identify alcoholism since the late 1980s.
Called the CAGE test, the tool involves asking the patient four key questions about their drinking habits. Developed by US psychaitrist and addiciton specialist Dr John Ewing in 1984, the questionnaire is thought to be between 76 and 93 per cent accurate for identifying alcoholism.