Cohort or cross-sectional studies that compared one or more brief alcohol screening questionnaires with an appropriate reference standard (structured interview) for identification of risk drinking, alcohol abuse or dependency in pregnant women were eligible for inclusion.
Most included studies were of women at first antenatal appointments in urban settings who reported some lifetime alcohol consumption; one study explicitly excluded substance abuse/dependence. All studies were conducted in USA. Three studies included only ethnic minority women of low socio-economic status and two included a more diverse group representative of the general population. Mean age of participants (where reported) ranged from 24 to 30 years.
Questionnaires evaluated by included studies were TWEAK (Tolerance, Worried, Eye-opener, Amnesia, Kut down), T-ACE [Take (number of drinks), Annoyed, Cut down, Eye-opener], CAGE (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilt, Eye-opener], NET (Normal drinker, Eye-opener, Tolerance), AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test), AUDIT-C (AUDIT-consumption) and SMAST (Short Michigan Alcohol Screening Test). Various cut-off scores were used to define risk drinking (details given in paper). Various reference standard methods were used to define risk drinking (details given in paper) based on pre-pregnancy/lifetime, periconception or during pregnancy consumption.
The authors did not state how many reviewers selected studies for inclusion.