Study Finds No Evidence of Increased Prevalence of Pathological Gambling Among Those with Parkinson's Disease

The first study I know of that actually compared the prevalence of pathological gambling among people with Parkinson's disease with the prevalence of pathological gambling among people without Parkinson's disease found no evidence to support an elevated prevalence among people with Parkinson's disease. The study, entitled "Hypersexuality and pathological gambling in Parkinson's disease: A cross-sectional case–control study," was sponsored by a Hospital Program for Clinical Research (local funding), Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand, France and published in the well respected journal, Movement Disorders, in 2011.

Quoting from the abstract:

BACKGROUND:
Substance and behavioral addictions have already been described separately or in combination in Parkinson's disease. However, no comparisons of the prevalence of addictive behaviors in patients with Parkinson's disease and the general population have been published. The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence and characteristics of addictions (gambling, hypersexuality, tobacco, and alcohol) in patients with Parkinson's disease and in a matched, paired sample from the general population.

METHODS:
After matching for age, sex, and complete field questionnaires on addictions, we had 115 data sets.

RESULTS:
No difference was observed between Parkinson's disease and control populations concerning pathological gambling (0.87% vs 0.87%, P = .99), tobacco addiction (1.7% vs 1.7%, P = .99), and alcohol dependence (2.6% vs 3.5%, P = .71). The Parkinson's disease group showed 2 cases of sexual addiction (1.7% vs 0, P = .15).

CONCLUSIONS:
Our results indicate that patients with Parkinson's disease do not have specific profiles for tobacco or alcohol addiction and pathological gambling compared with the general population.

To the law firm that comes to my blog periodically, I hope you find this interesting. And if you didn't already know about it, I truly hope you find it helpful in your work.