US - Health problems and medical utilization associated with gambling
Health problems and medical utilization associated with gambling: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol
and Related Conditions.
* Morasco BJ
* Pietrzak RH
* Blanco C
* Grant BF
* Hasin D
* Petry NM
Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center,
Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
OBJECTIVE: Pathologic gambling is believed to be associated with
adverse health consequences, but no prior studies have rigorously evaluated
these relationships. We sought to examine medical disorders and health
service utilization associated with problem and pathologic gambling.
METHOD: A total of 43,093 adults aged 18 years and older were
evaluated in the 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and
Related Conditions. Self-reported medical diagnoses and past-year medical
services used were assessed.
RESULTS: Pathologic gamblers were more
likely than low-risk individuals to have been diagnosed with
tachycardia (odds ratio [OR] = 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-2.97),
angina (OR = 2.35; 95% CI = 1.33-4.15), cirrhosis (OR = 3.90; 95% CI =
1.11-13.72), and other liver disease (OR = 2.98; 95% CI = 1.07-8.26).
Gambling severity was also associated with higher rates of medical
utilization with pathologic gamblers more likely than low-risk
individuals to have been treated in the emergency room in the year
before the survey (OR = 1.98; 95% CI = 1.27-3.09). Significant effects
of gambling severity remained even after controlling for demographic
characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, education,
income, and region of the country) and behavioral risk factors such as
body mass index, alcohol abuse and dependence, nicotine dependence,
and mood and anxiety disorders.
CONCLUSIONS: A lifetime diagnosis of
pathologic gambling is associated with several medical disorders and
increased medical utilization, perhaps leading to a burden on
healthcare costs in the United States.
PMID: 17132843 [PubMed - in process]
