A systematic review of gambling-related findings from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions

Abstract

Background and aims: This systematic review analyzes and summarizes gambling-related findings from the nationally representative US National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) data. Methods: Systematic literature searches in accordance with PRISMA guidelines found 51 eligible studies that met inclusion criteria. Eight studies utilized both Waves 1 and 2 NESARC data, and selection of sample sizes varied from 185 to 43,093 individuals, consistent with specified research objectives of each study. Results: The prevalence of lifetime pathological gambling was 0.42% (0.64% among men, 0.23% among women), while past-year prevalence was 0.16%. Pathological gambling rates were generally higher in populations with substance-use disorders and other psychiatric diagnoses. Rates of adverse childhood experiences and suicidal attempts were higher among individuals with problem or pathological gambling. Early-onset gamblers were more likely to be male, be never married, have incomes below $70,000, belong to younger cohorts and have Cluster B personality disorders, but less likely to be diagnosed with mood disorders. While pathological gambling was related to obesity, increased stress, and poorer physical health among general age groups, recreational gambling was linked with improved physical and mental functioning in older adults. Conclusions: The NESARC has provided important information on the correlates of pathological gambling and subdiagnostic patterns of gambling behaviors. Additional studies should examine these relationships in the current gambling environment and longitudinally with aims of implementing policies to improve the public health.

Demographic, Behavioral, and Proximal Risk Factors for Gambling Disorder in the US Military

“…Previous research has documented the comorbidity between mental disorders and/or substance misuse with gambling 32‐34 . Considering the low prevalence of gambling disorders and the high correlation with mental illness, behavioral problems, and substance misuse, policymakers would benefit from considering a targeted identification strategy that is more efficient and cost‐effective than population‐level screening 35 .…”

Associations of the Big Five and locus of control with problem gambling in a large Australian sample

“…Gambling is widespread: Statistics show that approximately 85% of U.S. adults have gambled at least once in their lives; 60% in the past year [ 6 ]. The worldwide lifetime prevalence of problem gambling is 2.3%, and the lifetime prevalence of pathological gambling is between 0.42 and 0.6% [ 7 ]. For Australia, there exist reliable statistics on gambling prevalence rates: In 2015, an estimated 39% of Australian adults gambled regularly.…”

“…Among these regular gamblers, participation in lotteries was most common (76%), followed by instant scratch tickets (22%), and electronic gaming machines (21%) [ 8 ]. Whereas recreational gambling may help to improve physical and mental functioning, problem and pathological gambling have been found to be related to obesity, increased stress, and poorer physical health, violent behavior, and even suicidal thoughts or attempts [ 7 , 9 , 10 ].…”

Screening for Gambling Disorder in VA Primary Care Behavioral Health: A Pilot Study

“…The estimated lifetime prevalence of GD among U.S. adults ranges from 0.4% to 1.6% (Hodgins et al, 2011;Petry et al, 2005;Potenza et al, 2019), whereas problem gambling is estimated to fall between 1-4% (i.e., subthreshold form of GD) (Toce-Gerstein et al, 2009;Welte et al, 2015). In general, GD and problem gambling are associated with multiple mental health and substance abuse problems, suicidality and financial and legal problems (for a systematic review, see Loo et al, 2019). Prior research has established that GD is associated obesity (Morasco et al, 2006), stress , alcohol abuse/dependence (Cowlishaw & Hakes, 2015), mood and anxiety disorders (Potenza et al, 2019) and personality disorders .…”

“…The primary study aim was to evaluate the proportion of veterans meeting full or subthreshold DSM-5 criteria for GD (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) and GD's cooccurrence with other medical and mental health problems. We hypothesized that veterans with GD (including subthreshold ARPG) versus those without would more frequently report psychiatric disorders and medical conditions as has been consistently demonstrated in a larger body of work (Loo et al, 2019).…”