To investigate associations with AUDs severity, the reason for not seeking treatment ordered according to Saunders’ framework (see above) served as dependent variable. AUDs severity was operationalized as defined in DSM-5 (sub threshold (1 criterion), mild (2–3 criteria), moderate (4–5 criteria), severe (6 or more criteria)). As the proportional odds assumption did not hold, multinomial logistic regression was performed introducing AUDs severity as a factorial variable and adjusting for age. Based on the resulting model, predicted probabilities were calculated for all levels of AUDs severity. All analyses were conducted in STATA 12, considering 12 months and lifetime (excluding 12 months) variables separately. Sample weights were applied in all analyses to account for different sampling probabilities [27, 28].
