['To assess the diagnostic performance of the CAGE and AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test) and its derivatives, and laboratory tests for screening alcohol abuse or dependence in a male medical hospital population.', 'A diagnostic cross-sectional prevalence study.', 'Three general hospitals and one university hospital.', 'All male patients older than 18 years admitted to the hospitals, during a period of 6 weeks, were consecutively included in the study (N = 233).', 'Calculation of diagnostic measurements with 95% CI and ROC curves for different scores of CAGE, AUDIT and derivatives, laboratory tests and % Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin (CDT), using DSM-III-R as the reference standard, derived from the CIDI.', 'A current diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence was found in 29 medical male inpatients, representing 12.4% (95% CI: 8.6-17.5). Ten of these (4.2%) fulfilled criteria of alcohol abuse and 19 (8.2%) the criteria of alcohol dependence. Laboratory tests are useless as screening tools with sensitivities between 10% (%CDT) and 52% (GammaGT). Only the Fiveshot questionnaire seems to yield reasonable diagnostic parameters at the recommended cutpoint of > or = 2.5 with a sensitivity of 79.3% and a specificity of 87.7%.'] Are questionnaires better than laboratory tests to screen for current alcohol abuse or dependence in a male inpatient population?