title: Smoking and Gambling Disorder: Does Tobacco Use Influence Treatment Outcome?
abstract: The purpose of this study was to verify whether tobacco use influenced treatment outcome in a population of treatment seeking individuals with gambling disorder. Gambling disorder is defined as persistent and maladaptive gambling behaviour which meets four or more outlined criteria in the DSM-5. Tobacco use is the most frequent comorbidity with gambling disorder. A total of 676 treatment seeking individuals with gambling disorder were assessed at the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London. We analysed differences in socio-demographic, clinical and gambling variables between smokers and non-smokers and the relation between smoking behaviour and treatment completion and outcome. 46.4% (314) of our sample were daily tobacco users and were significantly younger, less likely to be in a stable relationship, more likely to be unemployed and have a lower education level. They were also significantly more likely to score higher on the AUDIT-C score and were significantly more likely to have used drugs in the last 30 days. There was no significant difference in PGSI score between smokers and non-smokers. We found that tobacco smokers did not have higher PGSI scores than non-smokers. Moreover, there was no significant difference between tobacco users and nonusers in terms of treatment completion and treatment outcome.
authors.affiliation: NPGC, National Problem Gambling Clinic, Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, silvia.ronzitti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ronzitti
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lutri
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meleck
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Henrietta
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bowden-Jones
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome