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Published online before print November 9, 2006, 10.1097/01.JGP.0000239353.40880.cc
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 15:301-313, April 2007
© 2007 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
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Article

Gambling Level and Psychiatric and Medical Disorders in Older Adults: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions

Robert H. Pietrzak, M.P.H., Benjamin J. Morasco, Ph.D., Carlos Blanco, M.D., Ph.D., Bridget F. Grant, Ph.D., and Nancy M. Petry, Ph.D.

From the Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT (RHP, NMP); the Division of Behavioral Health and Clinical Neurosciences, Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, OR (BJM); the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY (CB); and the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biometry, Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH, Bethesda, MD (BFG).

Objective: This study examined the association between gambling level and psychiatric and medical disorders in a nationally representative sample of older adults.

Method: Data on 10,563 U.S. older adults (age 60 or older) were analyzed from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

Results: A total 28.74% of older adults were lifetime recreational gamblers and 0.85% were lifetime disordered gamblers. Compared with older adults without a history of regular gambling, recreational gamblers had significantly elevated rates of alcohol (30.1% versus 12.8%), nicotine (16.9% versus 8.0%), mood (12.6% versus 11.0%), anxiety (15.0% versus 11.6%), and personality disorders (11.3% versus 7.3%) and obesity (25.6% versus 20.8%), but were less likely to have past-year diagnoses of arteriosclerosis (4.7% versus 6.0%) or cirrhosis (0.2% versus 0.4%). Disordered gamblers were significantly more likely than older adults without a history of regular gambling to have alcohol (53.2% versus 12.8%), nicotine (43.2% versus 8.0%), drug (4.6% versus 0.7%), mood (39.5% versus 11.0%), anxiety (34.5% versus 11.6%), and personality (43.0% versus 7.3%) disorders, and to have past-year diagnoses of arthritis (60.2% versus 44.3%) or angina (22.7% versus 8.8%). These results remained significant even after controlling for demographic, psychiatric, and behavioral risk factors.

Conclusions: Lifetime recreational gamblers were more likely than nonregular gamblers to have psychiatric disorders but were less likely to have some medical conditions. Lifetime disordered gamblers had a range of lifetime psychiatric disorders and were more likely than nonregular gamblers to have past-year diagnoses of angina and arthritis.

Key Words: Older adults • problem gambling • pathological gambling • recreational gambling • health • substance abuse • epidemiology






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