Concurrent validity of cannabis misuse diagnoses on CIDI-Auto 2.1 in low-level cannabis users from the general population

The aim of the current study was to investigate the concurrent validity of cannabis misuse diagnoses (abuse and/or dependence) on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-Auto 2.1) in 50 relatively low-level cannabis users from the general population. Cannabis misuse diagnoses on the CIDI were compared with Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) scores indicating the level of cannabis dependence. Participants with cannabis misuse diagnoses had significantly higher SDS scores, and significantly more of them (82%) self-reported daily or weekly cannabis use than participants without such diagnoses. The overall agreement between CIDI-Auto diagnoses and SDS scores was 86%. SDS scores were 3.5 times more likely than chance to predict presence of cannabis misuse diagnoses on the CIDI. Therefore it appears that CIDI-Auto 2.1 assigns cannabis misuse diagnoses to relatively low-level cannabis users from the general population in fair agreement with SDS scores and self-reports of cannabis use.