Association Between Problem Gambling and Functional Disability: A Nationally Representative Study Conducted in the United Kingdom
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Published on: November 9, 2019
Louis Jacob1, Guillermo F López-Sánchez, Hans Oh
1Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 42, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona 08830, Spain (LJ, AK, JMH); Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain (LJ); Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux 78180, France (LJ); Vision and Eye Research Institute, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University-Cambridge Campus, Cambridge, United Kingdom (GFL-S, SP); University of Southern California, Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work, 1149 South Hill Street Suite 1422, Los Angeles, CA, 90015 (HO); Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany (KK); ICREA, Pg. Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona, Spain (AK); Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (JIS); The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom (LS).
Objectives:
Problem gambling is associated with multiple detrimental health outcomes. However, to date, no study has investigated the association between problem gambling and functional disability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between problem gambling and functional disability in a UK nationally representative sample.
Methods:
Cross-sectional data from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey were analyzed. Problem gambling was assessed using a questionnaire including 10 DSM-IV criteria, whereas functional disability referred to at least 1 difficulty in 1 of 7 activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Control variables included sociodemographic factors, smoking status, alcohol dependence, drug use, the number of chronic physical conditions, depression, and anxiety disorder. The problem gambling-functional disability relationship was studied using a logistic regression model.
Results:
This study included 6941 adults aged ≥16 years (51.2% women; mean [SD] age 46.3 [18.6] years). The prevalence of functional disability was significantly higher in the at-risk problem gambling/problem gambling group than in the no problem gambling group (46.2% vs 32.1%, P value < 0.001). After adjusting for control variables, both at-risk problem gambling (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.03-2.35) and problem gambling (OR = 3.05, 95% CI = 1.09-8.52) were positively and significantly associated with functional disability.
Conclusions:
In this large representative sample of UK adults, problem gambling was associated with higher odds for functional disability. If confirmed with longitudinal studies, these results suggest that those suffering from problem gambling should receive targeted intervention to aid in the prevention of functional disability.
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