Systematic review of patient contribution to the development of alcohol craving measurements

Craving is considered one of the defining characteristics for alcohol or substance use disorders. There is no consensus on the underlying processes of craving, although multiple models exist. Craving is a very individualistic symptom and has to be self-reported. Several instruments have been developed to measure craving, without a recognized gold standard. The patient's perspective appears critical to determine the relevance of the numerous existing tools. We assessed the contribution of patients to the development of these instruments. We performed a systematic review of instruments measuring alcohol craving published from 2012 to 2023 from three databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, and Embase) in addition to those identified in a previous review by Kavanagh et al. from 1990 to 2012. We included all articles related to the development or validation of instruments for the assessment of alcohol craving. We identified and included in this review the corresponding instruments. Articles translating existing instruments without validation or on single-item instruments were excluded. We analyzed the articles in accordance with COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) recommendations to assess patient involvement in the creation of patient-reported outcome measures (PROM). Two key aspects were investigated: (1) the general design, encompassing the quality of construct description, identification of elements pertinent to a PROM, particularly the inclusion of concepts provided by patients, and (2) the quality of cognitive interviews (when conducted), to evaluate the comprehensiveness and comprehensibility of the PROM. We included 22 articles identifying 16 instruments for measuring alcohol craving. Patients only contributed to item development for one instrument and its short version (QAU and AUQ). None of the instruments met all of the developmental quality criteria, with 14 classed as “inadequate” and two as “doubtful.” The current instruments measuring alcohol craving were developed with poor patient contribution, although most articles did not adequately report patient involvement. Patients' perspectives on craving should be explored for future patient-centered approach.