Ulrich John, Hans-Jürgen Rumpf, Monika Hanke, Christian Meyer

• The objective was to test whether Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) results may predict mortality after 20 years. An observational study was conducted. It included an interview of a general population sample aged 18 to 64 in northern Germany in the years 1996 − 1997 (baseline) and a mortality-follow-up in the years 2017 − 2018. Study participants were 3581 persons who had consumed alcohol during the last 12 months prior to the baseline assessment. It included the AUDIT which was filled in by study participants. At follow-up, death cases were ascertained including the date of death. Official records and death certificates from local health authorities were used. Cox proportional hazards regression revealed that the AUDIT predicted time to death. The hazard ratio was 1.70 (95% confidence interval: 1.43 − 2.02) with the lowest AUDIT zone of values as the reference group. Competing risks regression analysis for diagnosis-specific mortality data revealed that the AUDIT predicted cardiovascular mortality (subhazard ratio, 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.49 − 2.27). It is concluded that the alcohol screening predicted total and cardiovascular mortality in this adult general population sample.