CAGE Questionnaire Calculator — Alcohol Use Screening
The CAGE questionnaire is one of the most widely used and validated brief alcohol-screening tools in clinical medicine. Answer four yes/no questions — one point for each "Yes". A total score of 2 or more is the established clinical threshold that warrants follow-up with a healthcare provider.
C — Have you ever felt you should Cut down on your drinking?
A — Have people Annoyed you by criticising your drinking?
G — Have you ever felt bad or Guilty about your drinking?
E — Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning (Eye-opener)?
Score ≥ 2 is the validated threshold for probable alcohol use disorder
- 1
C + A (Cut down + Annoyed)
0 + 0 = 0 - 2
G + E (Guilty + Eye-opener)
0 + 0 = 0 - 3
CAGE score
0 + 0 = 0Score ≥ 2 is the validated clinical threshold for probable alcohol use disorder.
How does this calculator work?
CAGE is a 4-item alcohol-screening questionnaire: Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye-opener. Each "Yes" scores 1 point (total 0–4). A score ≥ 2 is the validated clinical threshold for probable alcohol use disorder and indicates a referral for further professional assessment. It is a screening tool, not a diagnosis.
Formula
How this is calculated
The CAGE questionnaire was developed by Dr John Ewing at the University of North Carolina in 1968 and has since been validated in hundreds of studies. Each letter represents a domain reliably linked to alcohol dependence: Cut down (recognition of a problem), Annoyed (response to external criticism), Guilty (internal shame), and Eye-opener (morning drinking — a marker of physical dependence). Because each item is a binary yes/no, the total score is simply the sum of "Yes" answers.
A threshold score of ≥ 2 has achieved sensitivity of roughly 71–93 % and specificity of 68–96 % for alcohol dependence across diverse populations in systematic reviews. A score of 1 is borderline and may prompt further discussion. A score of 0 makes current alcohol dependence unlikely, though it does not rule out hazardous or harmful drinking short of dependence.
CAGE refers to lifetime experience, not a fixed time window, which makes it better at detecting established dependence than early-stage harmful use. A positive screen should prompt a fuller clinical assessment — such as the AUDIT questionnaire or DSM-5 criteria — by a qualified clinician. CAGE is a screening tool, not a diagnosis.
Frequently asked questions
A score of 2 or more is the standard clinical cut-off associated with probable alcohol use disorder, and warrants professional evaluation. A score of 1 is borderline — it may reflect a past episode rather than current dependence but is worth discussing with a doctor. A score of 0 makes dependence unlikely.
CAGE is shorter (4 vs 10 questions) and focuses on lifetime experience, making it better at detecting established dependence — especially in clinical or emergency settings. AUDIT covers the past 12 months and also captures hazardous drinking short of dependence, so it is more sensitive for early-stage problems. AUDIT-C is a brief 3-item version of AUDIT.
The standard CAGE refers specifically to alcohol. An adapted version, CAGE-AID (Adapted to Include Drugs), replaces "drinking" with "drug and/or alcohol use" and shows similar performance for substance-use disorders. The 4-question version presented here covers alcohol only.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). CAGE Questionnaire Calculator — Alcohol Use Screening [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cage-questionnaire-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "CAGE Questionnaire Calculator — Alcohol Use Screening." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cage-questionnaire-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "CAGE Questionnaire Calculator — Alcohol Use Screening," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cage-questionnaire-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_cage_questionnaire_calculator, title = {CAGE Questionnaire Calculator — Alcohol Use Screening}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cage-questionnaire-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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