title: The "Pathological Gambling and Epidemiology" (PAGE) study program: design and fieldwork.
abstract: The German federal states initiated the "Pathological Gambling and Epidemiology" (PAGE) program to evaluate the public health relevance of pathological gambling. The aim of PAGE was to estimate the prevalence of pathological gambling and cover the heterogenic presentation in the population with respect to comorbid substance use and mental disorders, risk and protective factors, course aspects, treatment utilization, triggering and maintenance factors of remission, and biological markers. This paper describes the methodological details of the study and reports basic prevalence data. Two sampling frames (landline and mobile telephone numbers) were used to generate a random sample from the general population consisting of 15,023 individuals (ages 14 to 64) completing a telephone interview. Additionally, high-risk populations have been approached in gambling locations, via media announcements, outpatient addiction services, debt counselors, probation assistants, self-help groups and specialized inpatient treatment facilities. The assessment included two steps: (1) a diagnostic interview comprising the gambling section of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) for case finding; (2) an in-depth clinical interview with participants reporting gambling problems. The in-depth clinical interview was completed by 594 participants, who were recruited from the general or high-risk populations. The program provides a rich epidemiological database which is available as a scientific use file.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social Medicine and Prevention, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bischof
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Westram
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jeske
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Brito
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glorius
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schön
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Porz
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gürtler
authors.forename: Nadin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kastirke
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayer
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jacobi
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lucht
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Premper
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gilberg
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: Gallus
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bischof
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Hans-Jürgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rumpf
mesh_terms: D015897:Comorbidity; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005858:Germany; D006078:Government Programs / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013689:Telephone
keywords: behavioral addiction; mental disorder; pathological gambling; problem gambling; psychiatric epidemiology