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The Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (S-MAST) was applied to 140 alcohol users in the traditional Muslim society of Kuwait. One hundred were confirmed alcoholics and 40 were self-disclosed social drinkers in the community. The questionnaire significantly discriminated between the groups. Its sensitivity level was 100% and its specificity 82.5%. Although all except one of the S-MAST items elicited significant differences between the groups in question, it appears that the particular sociocultural conditions of the setting may influence the validity of some of them.

The outcome of a 5-year prospective follow-up study of 100 patients treated in the Kuwait Hospital for alcohol-related problems is reported using two parameters computed from weighted follow-up variables, i.e., Offset Score measuring patients' initial follow-up status and Direction of Slope summarizing consequent follow-up scores. Nineteen patients had died representing 14 times the age-corrected national rate. Univariate and multivariate analyses of outcome measures against prefollow-up patients' characteristics revealed that variables indicating heavy alcohol use independent of each other predicted negative outcome and mortality. The tendency of the group score distribution towards normalization uninfluenced by treatment is demonstrated. The pertinence of these findings to the medical profession in Kuwait is stressed.

A tenth version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) is currently being prepared by the World Health Organization, who called for field trials of suggested guidelines. A field trial of the guidelines for the diagnosis of schizophrenia is presented. There is a consistency with ICD-9-based diagnosis. Schneider's First-Rank Symptoms (FRS) acquire special importance in the suggested guidelines, but caution is necessary in detecting these symptoms in cultures in which socioculturally shared beliefs bear a resemblance to FRS.