Tobacco use and gambling disorder: Associations with clinical characteristics, and treatment outcome

Gambling disorder (GD) usually co-occurs with other addictive behaviors. Given shared neurobiological underpinnings, particularly involving dopaminergic pathways, and behavioral similarities such as high reward sensitivity, investigating the link between GD and tobacco use is warranted. Therefore, the present study explored how daily smoking use relates to clinical, personality, and psychopathological profiles, as well as its potential association with treatment outcomes.

Our sample included 455 individuals with GD, who completed clinical, personality, psychopathology, impulsivity, and emotion regulation assessments before undergoing a 16-week group cognitive behavioral therapy. Patients were categorized as smokers (daily smokers of conventional cigarettes) or non-smokers to examine differences in clinical profiles and treatment outcomes, specifically dropouts and relapses.

While no significant differences emerged in overall psychopathology, personality, or emotion regulation, daily tobacco users with GD exhibited higher levels of impulsivity. Trends toward increased treatment dropout and relapse were observed, though these did not reach statistical significance.

These findings suggest that while daily tobacco use in GD is associated with heightened impulsivity, its impact on overall clinical profiles may be limited. However, the observed trend toward poorer treatment outcomes warrants further investigation, particularly focusing on interventions targeting impulsivity in populations with co-occurrent disorders.