TY - JOUR
T1 - Severity of gambling is associated with physical and emotional health in urban primary care patients
AU - Morasco, Benjamin J.
AU - Vom Eigen, Keith A.
AU - Petry, Nancy M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants R01-MH60417, R01-MH60417-Supp, R01-DA13444, R01-DA14618, P50-AA03510, M01-RR06192 and P50-DA09241, and from the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Yola Ammerman and Robert Pietrzak for their help with this project. We also appreciate the comments from the editor and two anonymous reviewers on a prior draft of this manuscript.
PY - 2006/3
Y1 - 2006/3
N2 - Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of recreational and disordered gambling, and to identify its association with health functioning, in urban primary care patients. Materials and methods: Data were collected from 574 adults presenting to an urban primary care medical clinic. Participants completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen, Short Form-12 Health Survey, Second Edition and questions assessing demographic characteristics and frequency and intensity of current gambling behaviors. Results: Overall, 10.6% of participants met lifetime criteria for pathological gambling, and an additional 5.1% were classified as problem gamblers. Pathological gamblers and problem gamblers reported more health-related concerns than recreational gamblers and nongamblers on indices of physical and emotional functioning. Contrary to prior research, recreational gambling was not associated with better health. Conclusion: These data suggest that disordered gambling is relatively common in primary care settings, and gambling severity is associated with decreased health functioning.
AB - Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of recreational and disordered gambling, and to identify its association with health functioning, in urban primary care patients. Materials and methods: Data were collected from 574 adults presenting to an urban primary care medical clinic. Participants completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen, Short Form-12 Health Survey, Second Edition and questions assessing demographic characteristics and frequency and intensity of current gambling behaviors. Results: Overall, 10.6% of participants met lifetime criteria for pathological gambling, and an additional 5.1% were classified as problem gamblers. Pathological gamblers and problem gamblers reported more health-related concerns than recreational gamblers and nongamblers on indices of physical and emotional functioning. Contrary to prior research, recreational gambling was not associated with better health. Conclusion: These data suggest that disordered gambling is relatively common in primary care settings, and gambling severity is associated with decreased health functioning.
KW - Mental health
KW - Pathological gambling
KW - Physical functioning
KW - Primary care
KW - Problem gambling
KW - Recreational gambling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33644638332&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33644638332&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2005.09.004
DO - 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2005.09.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 16516058
AN - SCOPUS:33644638332
SN - 0163-8343
VL - 28
SP - 94
EP - 100
JO - General Hospital Psychiatry
JF - General Hospital Psychiatry
IS - 2
ER -