Mental illness and socio-economic factors among women and men with gambling disorder in Sweden

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Author(s): Larsson, Louise ; Håkansson, Anders

Journal: PLoS One

Year Published: 2022

Date Added: January 24, 2023

People with gambling disorder (GD) may have other mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety. They may also have socio-economic vulnerability. This study compared men and women with GD to see if there were gender differences in the co-occurrence of mental health conditions and socio-economic vulnerability. The researchers examined data from 10,776 adults from Sweden. They matched each of the 3,592 adults with GD with two controls without GD, based on age and gender. Women with GD were more likely to have a co-occurring mental health condition than men with GD. Women were more likely to be diagnosed with another mental health condition before their GD diagnosis. But men were more likely to receive both diagnoses at the same time. Women were more likely to receive social welfare payments and sickness support than men. There was no gender difference in unemployment. Women were also more likely to receive sickness/activity/rehabilitation compensation before their GD diagnosis. Men were more likely to receive these types of support after their GD diagnosis.

Citation: Larsson, L., & Håkansson, A. (2022). Mental illness and socio-economic situation of women and men diagnosed with gambling disorder (GD) in Sweden – nationwide case-control study. PLoS ONE, 17(10), e0274064. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274064

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274064

Keywords: anxiety ; depression ; economic impacts ; gambling disorder ; socioeconomic status

Topics: Anxiety and Depression ; Comorbidities ; Priority Populations ; Socioeconomic Status

Conceptual Framework Factors: Environment - Social and Economic Impacts ; Psychological - Comorbid Disorders ; Psychological Factors ; Social - Social Demographics ; Gambling Environment

Study Design: Secondary Data Analysis

Geographic Coverage: Sweden

Study Population: In total, 10,776 adults were included in the analysis, including 3,592 people with a GD diagnosis. People younger than 18 years old were not included. Each person with GD was matched with two control subjects. Control subjects were never diagnosed with GD. Across the people included in the analysis, most (78%) were men. Most men were between 34 and 35 years old, while women were between 39 and 41 years old.

Sampling Procedure: The researchers used information from the following databases: (1) the National Patient Register, (2) the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, and (3) the Longitudinal Integrated Database for Health Insurance and Labour Market Studies (LISA) register. The data retrieved included information about people with a diagnosis of GD in Swedish specialized healthcare from 2005 to 2019. The researchers matched each person with GD with two control subjects from the general population. These control subjects were randomly selected from the LISA register. They had to match the same gender and the same age as the person with GD. Control subjects could not have ever been diagnosed with GD.

Study Funding:

This study has no project-specific funding. It was financed by the second author’s general research funding, which comes from the Swedish state-owned gambling operator (AB Svenska Spel) and from the regional health care service organization (Region Skåne).