Is Medicine Use for Nervousness Associated with Adolescent At-Risk or Problem Gambling?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between adolescent at-risk or problem gambling (ARPG) and medicine used to treat nervousness in a large-scale nationally representative sample of Italian adolescents.

STUDY DESIGN: Data from the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey was used for cross-sectional analyses (a sample of 20,791 15-year-old students). Self-administered questionnaires were completed by a representative sample of high-school students. Respondents' ARPG, use of medicine for nervousness and potential confounding factors were assessed. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were used to test the association between medicine use to treat nervousness and ARPG.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of adolescents reporting medicine use for nervousness in the last month was 6.3%. The odds of ARPG were 3 times higher among adolescents who used medicine for nervousness compared to that among adolescents who did not take such medicine (OR 2.96, 95% CI 2.07-4.25). Importantly, the association between medicine used to treat nervousness and ARPG did not vary significantly when viewed in light of psychological symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: Medicine use to treat nervousness is associated with increased risk of gambling-related harm.