Our results diverge from those reported by Mewton and colleagues (19) – while they reported a 61.7% increase in the prevalence of AUDs using DSM-5 criteria, we find the increase to be modest. We demonstrate here that the discrepancy is likely attributable, not to DSM-5 definitions but due to the increased prevalence of DSM-IV abuse in our sample, due to items assessing drinking and driving. We also note that while the prevalence of the remaining AUD criteria were highly comparable across the samples, rates of withdrawal were considerably elevated in NESARC (3.3% vs 9.9%, reduced to 6.0% if impairment is included), which was defined by us as either (a) endorsement of 2 or more withdrawal symptoms or (b) use of alcohol or other substances for withdrawal relief. We are uncertain as to the exact phraseology of withdrawal in the NSMHWB, however as their DSM-IV prevalence of dependence was highly comparable with ours, it is unlikely that this contributed to changes. Furthermore, craving was defined by us using two items – using the more stringent (less common) of these two items provides a DSM-5 AUDs prevalence of 10.5% (9.9% un-weighted) which is nearly identical to that reported by Mewton et al.
