Gender differences in the associations between past-year gambling problems and psychiatric disorders.
BACKGROUND
Psychiatric disorders frequently co-occur with pathological gambling. The extent to which co-occurence extends to subsyndromal levels of gambling or differs between women and men is incompletely understood.


OBJECTIVE
To examine whether the association between psychiatric disorders and past-year gambling problems is stronger in women than men.


METHODS
Data from the national epidemiological survey of alcoholism and related disorders (NESARC) (n = 43,093) were analyzed.


RESULTS
Increasing severity of past-year gambling problems was associated with increasing odds of most past-year Axis I and lifetime Axis II disorders, regardless of gender. Associations between gambling problems and major depression, dysthymia, panic disorder, and nicotine dependence were statistically stronger in women than in men.


CONCLUSIONS
A severity-related association exists between past-year gambling problems and psychiatric disorders. The stronger associations in women suggest that gambling research, prevention and treatment efforts consider gender differences.
Desai
Rani A
RA
Dept. of Psychiatry and Women and Addictive Disorders, Core of Women's Health Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. rani.desai@yale.edu
Potenza
Marc N
MN
D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors