Demographic and Comorbidity Characteristics of U.S. Veterans in a Retrospective Descriptive Matched Cohort Study Addressing Problematic Gambling

In a matched cohort of 775 U.S. Veterans with problematic gambling, opioid use disorder (22.5% vs 8.4%) and alcohol use disorder (56.3% vs 25.9%) were substantially more common than in similar non-gambling Veterans.

• Why it matters: Problematic gambling in Veterans is linked to multiple health and social challenges, but it is unclear how its comorbidity and care patterns differ from those of comparable Veterans without gambling diagnoses.
• What they did: Using VA electronic health records from 2016-01-01 to 2024-12-31, investigators matched Veterans one-to-one on age, race, ethnicity, gender, and VA station, then compared comorbidities and marital status with chi-squared and t-tests.
• The result: Compared with matched non-problematic-gambling Veterans, those with problematic gambling had higher rates of major depressive disorder (64.9% vs 46.7%), post-traumatic stress disorder (50.8% vs 43.1%), and suicide attempt (5.3% vs 3.0%), implying screening in VA primary care may help identify patients needing directed care.

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