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Psychiatric Drug Prescription and Temporal Associations with a First Diagnosis of Gambling Disorder—Results from a National Register Study

Widinghoff, Carolina LU ; Berge, Jonas LU and Hakansson, Anders LU (2023) In International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 21(2). p.993-1012
Abstract

Psychiatric comorbidity is common in gambling disorder (GD), but there are few studies on larger nationwide samples of treatment-seeking patients. Also, temporal associations between GD and other psychiatric disorders are often difficult to study. To address the prevalence and the temporal associations of prescriptions for psychiatric disorders — both in specialized care and primary care — in patients with a GD diagnosis (ICD-10 F63.0). Data was derived from national health registers in Sweden. All patients who were diagnosed with GD in specialized health care in 2005–2016 were included and run against the nationwide database on prescription of pharmaceuticals aimed for psychiatric disorders (n = 2018). Prevalence of psychiatric drug... (More)

Psychiatric comorbidity is common in gambling disorder (GD), but there are few studies on larger nationwide samples of treatment-seeking patients. Also, temporal associations between GD and other psychiatric disorders are often difficult to study. To address the prevalence and the temporal associations of prescriptions for psychiatric disorders — both in specialized care and primary care — in patients with a GD diagnosis (ICD-10 F63.0). Data was derived from national health registers in Sweden. All patients who were diagnosed with GD in specialized health care in 2005–2016 were included and run against the nationwide database on prescription of pharmaceuticals aimed for psychiatric disorders (n = 2018). Prevalence of psychiatric drug prescription was used as a proxy for psychiatric comorbidity and studied for two 2-year periods (period 1 and 2) prior to GD and one 2-year period (period 3) after the diagnosis. Controlling for gender, age, and time periods, for eight drug categories (anti- epileptics, anti-psychotics, benzodiazepine derivatives, anxiolytics, hypnotics, anti- depressants and drugs used in addictive disorders), significant increases in drug prescription were seen. For central stimulants, a significant increase was seen upon receiving the GD diagnosis (from period 2 to 3), and for benzodiazepines, an increase was seen prior to the GD diagnosis (from period 1 to 2), but not upon diagnosis (from period 2 to 3). Psychiatric comorbidity in GD is common. Drug prescription for psychiatric problems increased markedly in the years temporarily associated with a first diagnosis of GD. The findings may call for early screening for problem gambling in patients with treatment contacts for increasingly poor mental health.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Addiction medicine, Gambling disorder, Psychiatric comorbidity, Psychiatric drug prescription, Register study
in
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
volume
21
issue
2
pages
993 - 1012
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85114324270
ISSN
1557-1874
DOI
10.1007/s11469-021-00636-6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c8e07b7e-8322-4502-9bac-6c85f5a8f542
date added to LUP
2021-10-11 14:33:36
date last changed
2023-10-26 14:59:42
@article{c8e07b7e-8322-4502-9bac-6c85f5a8f542,
  abstract     = {{<p>Psychiatric comorbidity is common in gambling disorder (GD), but there are few studies on larger nationwide samples of treatment-seeking patients. Also, temporal associations between GD and other psychiatric disorders are often difficult to study. To address the prevalence and the temporal associations of prescriptions for psychiatric disorders — both in specialized care and primary care — in patients with a GD diagnosis (ICD-10 F63.0). Data was derived from national health registers in Sweden. All patients who were diagnosed with GD in specialized health care in 2005–2016 were included and run against the nationwide database on prescription of pharmaceuticals aimed for psychiatric disorders (n = 2018). Prevalence of psychiatric drug prescription was used as a proxy for psychiatric comorbidity and studied for two 2-year periods (period 1 and 2) prior to GD and one 2-year period (period 3) after the diagnosis. Controlling for gender, age, and time periods, for eight drug categories (anti- epileptics, anti-psychotics, benzodiazepine derivatives, anxiolytics, hypnotics, anti- depressants and drugs used in addictive disorders), significant increases in drug prescription were seen. For central stimulants, a significant increase was seen upon receiving the GD diagnosis (from period 2 to 3), and for benzodiazepines, an increase was seen prior to the GD diagnosis (from period 1 to 2), but not upon diagnosis (from period 2 to 3). Psychiatric comorbidity in GD is common. Drug prescription for psychiatric problems increased markedly in the years temporarily associated with a first diagnosis of GD. The findings may call for early screening for problem gambling in patients with treatment contacts for increasingly poor mental health.</p>}},
  author       = {{Widinghoff, Carolina and Berge, Jonas and Hakansson, Anders}},
  issn         = {{1557-1874}},
  keywords     = {{Addiction medicine; Gambling disorder; Psychiatric comorbidity; Psychiatric drug prescription; Register study}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{993--1012}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction}},
  title        = {{Psychiatric Drug Prescription and Temporal Associations with a First Diagnosis of Gambling Disorder—Results from a National Register Study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00636-6}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11469-021-00636-6}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}