Screening for Risk-Drinking in Pregnancy
Principal Investigator: Marcia Russell, Ph.D.

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Rediscovery of the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in 1973 led to recognition that drinking during pregnancy could harm the fetus.

One approach to preventing such harm was to detect risk drinking and intervene as early during pregnancy as possible, ideally prior to conception.

I developed a brief questionnaire for this purpose, the TWEAK. The TWEAK includes five items: a question on tolerance to alcohol, having friends or relatives worry about your drinking in the past year, drinking in the morning (Eyeopener), blackouts (Amnesia), and feeling the need to cut down on your drinking

In a population of disadvantaged African-American prenatal patients, the TWEAK detected 91 percent of risk drinkers (sensitivity) and correctly identified 77 percent of the women who were not risk drinkers (specificity) (Russell, et al., 1996)

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This instrument is currently being used in a number of clinical and research settings and is included in the NIAAA catalogue of screening instruments.

The TWEAK is also sensitive to alcohol problems and is one of the few alcohol screeners developed for use by women.


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