Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol, Revised (CIWA-Ar) Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.
Example Questions From the Test
- 0: No nausea and no vomiting
- 1: Mild nausea with no vomiting
- 2
- 3
- 4: Intermittent nausea and dry heaves
- 5
- 6
- 7: Constant nausea, frequent dry heaves, and vomiting
- 0: No tremor
- 1: Tremor not visible, but can be felt fingertip to fingertip
- 2
- 3
- 4: Moderate tremor with arms extended
- 5
- 6
- 7: Severe tremor even with arms not extended
- 0: No sweat visible
- 1: Barely perceptible sweating; palms moist
- 2
- 3
- 4: Beads of sweat obvious on forehead
- 5
- 6
- 7: Profuse sweating
Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol, Revised (CIWA-Ar) Test - Symptoms and Signs
This rating scale is used to rapidly assess the severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in medically supervised settings. The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol, Revised (CIWA-Ar) supports structured clinical observation and brief patient queries to quantify key withdrawal features and guide monitoring.
The measure includes 10 items and typically takes about 2 minutes to complete. Items capture common withdrawal signs and symptoms (e.g., tremor, diaphoresis, nausea, anxiety), producing a total score that can inform decisions about level of care and the need for symptom-triggered intervention.
Developed by Sullivan, J., the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol, Revised (CIWA-Ar) is commonly used for serial reassessment to track change over time and support documentation of withdrawal severity.