期刊名称:Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health
印刷版ISSN:2282-0930
出版年度:2019
卷号:16
期号:2
页码:1-9
DOI:10.2427/12983
出版社:PREX
摘要:Nowadays, pathological gambling is an emerging health problem. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders 5 (DSM 5) renames it as 'Gambling Disorder' (GD), thus recognising its highly dependent status. A study
was conducted from April 2016 to August 2017 to evaluate the prevalence of this phenomenon by administering an
ad hoc questionnaire to adult individuals (both sexes) over the age of 18.
We analysed a sample of 562 individuals with DSM 5 criteria. We obtained a score > 4 indicating a possible
mild gambling disorder in 1.6% of the sample and a score > 6 corresponding to a moderate GD in 2.3% of the
sample. We observed that the main motivations for gambling were “having fun” and “the prospect of winning” and
10.9% of respondents had played more than they intended. Furthermore, "problematic" players showed to be more
prone to alcohol abuse than "social" players (p < 0.001). Only 7.5% of respondents had already gambling problems
in their family (involving in particular their mothers). The phenomenon is, therefore, quite common in our area and,
indeed, 64.1% of the sample believes that gambling is a problem in their own territory, however only 20.6% would
know where to find help. In conclusion, given the high socio-economic impact of this phenomenon, we believe that
it is imperative to establish structured preventions programs in order to to contain the spread of this phenomenon.
关键词:Gambling; addiction; disorder; prevalence; Italy; population
其他关键词:Gambling; addiction; disorder; prevalence; Italy; population