The CAGE adds four Yes-or-No answers about lifetime experiences with alcohol into a total from 0 to 4. Two or more Yes answers crosses its usual screening boundary. The result can start a conversation, but it cannot diagnose an alcohol use disorder or rule out a current concern.
The quick answer
| Score | Survey Doctor label | What the range means |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 | Low risk | Below the usual boundary; current concerns are not ruled out |
| 2-4 | Clinically significant | At or above the boundary; fuller assessment may be useful |
The Johns Hopkins CAGE form uses 2 or more as clinically significant. It also notes that some guidance considers even 1 positive answer. Neither boundary is a diagnosis or treatment rule.
“Low risk” is Survey Doctor's name for the lower score range. It does not prove that a person's current drinking is medically safe.
The label is not clearance.
What the four questions cover
CAGE is a mnemonic for four areas. They concern cutting down, annoyance about criticism, guilt, and using an eye-opener. Each Yes answer contributes one point. No single answer has its own diagnostic meaning.
The first validation paper for the four-question CAGE questionnaire was published in 1974. Later work gave the questionnaire its familiar CAGE name. The score remains a brief screen, not a count of drinks or diagnostic criteria.
Lifetime wording changes the meaning
The questions ask whether each experience has ever happened. A Yes answer may describe last week or many years ago.
Time can blur.
Someone in long-term recovery may still score above the boundary. Someone with current risky drinking may score below it because CAGE does not ask how much or how often they drink. The total cannot measure weekly progress, cravings, withdrawal risk, or response to treatment.
History matters here.
Current timing and use patterns need separate questions.
CAGE and CAGE-AID are different forms
The original CAGE is alcohol-specific. CAGE-AID is a separate adaptation that adds drug use to the questions.
Keep the form name with the result. A CAGE-AID total should not be stored or interpreted as an original CAGE score, even though both forms have four questions and share a mnemonic.
Form identity matters.
What a manually entered total leaves unknown
Survey Doctor can store a whole-number CAGE total from 0 to 4 without collecting the four answers. That score-only record cannot prove which form was used, whether the questions had lifetime wording, or which areas produced Yes answers.
Do not infer a specific behavior from a total alone. A score of 2 has several possible answer combinations, and those combinations can describe very different histories.
What the score does not tell you
The CAGE cannot determine:
- how much or how often you drink now
- whether a concern is current or historical
- whether you meet diagnostic criteria
- whether withdrawal is likely or medically dangerous
- which support or treatment fits you
- why a particular answer was Yes
The MAST score guide explains a different lifetime alcohol questionnaire. Its longer form covers more alcohol-related experiences, but a MAST total cannot be converted into a CAGE total.
Using the result
Bring the score to a doctor, therapist, or qualified alcohol-use specialist if you want help understanding it. Also bring information about current quantity, frequency, recent changes, medicines, health concerns, and what you want to change.
Ask for help at any score if drinking concerns you or affects health, work, relationships, or safety. A provider may use another questionnaire that focuses on current consumption, followed by a fuller assessment when needed.
Do not choose care from the CAGE number alone.
The bottom line
A CAGE score of 2 or more crosses the usual screening boundary. A score below 2 does not rule out current alcohol concerns.
Use the result to begin a conversation. Do not treat it as a diagnosis, current-use measure, or treatment plan.