Psychiatric comorbidity was linked with diagnosed gambling disorder in Finland – A study based on a total population sample

Session Title

Session 1-3-A: Compounding Issues in Problem Gambling

Presenters

Anne H. Salonen, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland; University of Eastern Finland, Faculty of Health SciencesFollow
Tanja Grönroos, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Public Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FinlandFollow
Tiina A. Latvala, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Public Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FinlandFollow
Sari Castrèn, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Public Health and Welfare,Helsinki, Finland; University of Helsinki, Department of MedicineFollow
Jonna Levola, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry; University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FinlandFollow
Miika Vuori, University of Turku, Research Centre for Child Psychiatry, Turku, Finland; Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the Knowledge Management and Co-Creation Unit (1.1.2023–), Helsinki, FinlandFollow

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation

Location

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

Start Date

23-5-2023 1:45 PM

End Date

23-5-2023 3:15 PM

Disciplines

Diagnosis | Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Abstract

Only few studies have evaluated gambling disorder (GD) based on total population samples. The prevalence rates of diagnosed GD are low in Finland; however, they increased among all age groups across genders, except for the women aged 60 or more in 2011-2020. This study examines the psychiatric comorbidity and main causes of death among person with diagnosed GD in Finland based on a total population sample.

Aggregated data on adults with diagnosed GD (ICD-10: code F63.0) were retrieved from the following Finnish national registers: Register of Primary Health Care visits, and Care Register for Health Care, including specialised outpatient and inpatient health care, and inpatient social care. Primary and secondary diagnoses in 2011-2020 were included. Further, data on other psychiatric diagnoses (F00–F99), and causes of death were retrieved.

Of persons with GD, 87.7 percent had been diagnosed with at least one additional psychiatric disorder. Comorbid psychiatric disorders were more prevalent among women with GD (92.1%) compared to men with GD (85.9%). Overall, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders were most common types of comorbid disorders. Out of the 2,617 persons with GD in 2011-2020, 54 persons (2.1%) had died. Every third death was a suicide death.

The potential presence of comorbidity and increased risk for suicide death should be acknowledged by health and social care professionals when working with persons with addictive disorders including GD. Furthermore, interventions are needed to increase awareness of GD among both primary and specialized health care professionals and the public.

Keywords

Comorbidities, co-occurring disorder, gambling disorder, pathological gambling, ICD-10, psychiatric disorder

Author Bios

Anne H. Salonen, RN, is a Doctor of Health Sciences. She is working as a Research Manager at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, and serving as an Associate Professor (Public Health) at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research interests include quantitative studies monitoring health and well-being. She is a principal investigator of the Finnish Gambling population study. Furthermore, her research group evaluates harmful gambling using register-based data sets.

Tanja Grönroos is Master of Social Sciences in the field of Social Policy. She works as a researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland. She is also a PhD student in Social Policy at the University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Her research interests include gambling, inequality, well-being, and health, which she approaches using quantitative methods.

Tiina Latvala is PhD in the field of public health. She works as a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland. Her research interests include societal costs of gambling, gambling, inequality, well-being, and health. She is familiar with quantitative methods.

Sari Castrén, PhD, clinical psychologist with the title of Associate Professor at the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is currently working as a Researcher Manager at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland. Her main focus in research are developing interventions and investigating the efficacy of treatments for gambling disorder both for gamblers and affected others. Her new research endeavors are gaming disorder and harmful social media use.

Jonna Levola is a medical doctor and specialist in psychiatry with a special competency in addiction medicine. She holds a PhD in addiction medicine and works as a clinical lecturer in the department of psychiatry at the University of Helsinki as well as an addiction psychiatrist in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. Her research interests are in the field of addiction psychiatry, specifically from an epidemiological and public health perspective.

Miika Vuori has PhD in social sciences. His interests include register-based research in psychiatric epidemiology and clinical intervention studies.

Funding Sources

The study was funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland, within the objectives of the §52 Appropriation of the Lotteries Act. Daily work of the authors AHS, SC, TL and TG at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, was also funded by the Ministry. The Ministry has had no role in the study design, analysis, or interpretation of the results of the manuscript or any phase of the publication process.

Competing Interests

Anne H. Salonen’s daily work at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland, within the objectives of the §52 Appropriation of the Lotteries Act. She has received fees from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) for her expert work in the Lower-Risk Gambling Guidelines Scientific Working Group, and from the Central Queensland University, Australia, for her expert work in the National Interactive Gambling Study. She has also received fees from the University of Bergen, Norway, the Åbo Academi, Finland, and the University of Helsinki, Finland, based on her supervision, opponent and preliminary examination work with PhD students. She declares no conflicts of interest in relation to this manuscript. Tanja Grönroos’s full time work at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland, within the objectives of the §52 Appropriation of the Lotteries Act. Furthermore, her doctoral thesis work was supported by grants based on the funding from the Ministry but granted by the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. She declares no conflicts of interest in relation to this manuscript. Tiina A. Latvala’s daily work at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland, within the objectives of the §52 Appropriation of the Lotteries Act. Furthermore, her post-doctoral research was supported by grants based on the funding from the Ministry but granted by the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. She also received fund from Jenny and Antti Wihuri foundation. She declares no conflicts of interest in relation to this manuscript. Sari Castrén works full time at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and all her research work is funded within the objectives of §52 Appropriation of the Lotteries Act. Castrén also works as a clinical psychologist at Addiktum Clinic Helsinki, Finland as a private practitioner (part time) treating individuals mainly with addiction problems, and at Mehiläinen Medical Center, Forum Helsinki, where she offers treatments to various psychological issues. She is a clinical advisor to Canadian company Alavida, Vancouver, (remote/internet treatment for alcohol disorder). She is also lecturing about Behavioral Addictions (e.g., national and international conferences) and training and supervising professionals to treat gambling disorder (MI, CBT) as a part of her duty at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and addictions in general privately. She has received fees from Helsinki University, Tampere City, Vocational school Stadi, Lundbeck, Mehiläinen for her lectures on behavioural addictions and training professionals and writer’s fees from the Finnish Medical society Duodecim, Myllyhoitoyhdistys ry, and received fees from Svenska Spel (Sweden) for evaluating research plans (grants) and Tampere University for preliminary examination of PhD work. She declares no conflict of interest in relation this manuscript. Jonna Levola works full time at the University of Helsinki as a clinical lecturer in psychiatry and as chief assistant physician in the Hyvinkää Area of the department of Psychiatry of the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. She has previously received research funding from the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, Juho Vainio Foundation and the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. She has received speaker fees from Lundbeck, Fioca Ltd., the Finnish Menopause Association, the Finnish Society for Addiction Medicine, STEP, Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Niuvanniemi Hospital, the Federation of Finnish Midwives and HY+. She has also received writer fees from The Finnish Medical Society Duodecim. She is currently the president of the Finnish Society of Addiction Medicine. She declares no conflicts of interest in relation to this manuscript. Miika Vuori works currently full time at the University of Turku as a senior researcher. He has received lecture fees from Professio and Biocodex and writer’s fees from the Finnish Medical society Duodecim. He declares no conflicts of interest in relation to this manuscript.