Addiction and Mental Health, 10101 Southport Rd SW, Calgary, AB T2W 3N2, Canada.
Health Promot Int. 2019 Dec 1;34(6):1207-1217. doi: 10.1093/heapro/day074.
From a public health perspective, gambling shares many of the same characteristics as alcohol. Notably, excessive gambling is associated with many physical and emotional health harms, including depression, suicidal ideation, substance use and addiction and greater utilization of health care resources. Gambling also demonstrates a similar 'dose-response' relationship as alcohol-the more one gambles, the greater the likelihood of harm. Using the same collaborative, evidence-informed approach that produced Canada's Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking and Lower Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines, a research team is leading the development of the first national Low-Risk Gambling Guidelines (LRGGs) that will include quantitative thresholds for safe gambling. This paper describes the research methodology and the decision-making process for the project. The guidelines will be derived through secondary analyses of several large population datasets from Canada and other countries, including both cross-sectional and longitudinal data on over 50 000 adults. A scientific committee will pool the results and put forward recommendations for LRGGs to a nationally representative, multi-agency advisory committee for endorsement. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic attempt to generate a workable set of LRGGs from population data. Once validated, the guidelines inform public health policy and prevention initiatives and will be disseminated to addiction professionals, policy makers, regulators, communication experts and the gambling industry. The availability of the LRGGs will help the general public make well-informed decisions about their gambling activities and reduce the harms associated with gambling.
从公共卫生的角度来看，赌博与酒精有许多相同的特征。值得注意的是，过度赌博与许多身心健康危害有关，包括抑郁、自杀意念、物质使用和成瘾以及更多地利用医疗保健资源。赌博也表现出与酒精相似的“剂量-反应”关系——赌博越多，伤害的可能性就越大。一个研究团队正在采用与制定加拿大低风险饮酒和低风险大麻使用指南相同的协作、循证方法，领导制定第一个国家低风险赌博指南 (LRGG)，该指南将包括安全赌博的定量阈值。本文介绍了该项目的研究方法和决策过程。该指南将通过对来自加拿大和其他国家的几个大型人群数据集的二次分析得出，包括超过 50000 名成年人的横断面和纵向数据。一个科学委员会将汇集结果，并向一个具有全国代表性的多机构咨询委员会提出 LRGG 建议供认可。据我们所知，这是首次从人群数据中生成一套可行的 LRGG 的系统尝试。一旦经过验证，该指南将为公共卫生政策和预防计划提供信息，并将分发给成瘾专业人员、政策制定者、监管机构、传播专家和赌博业。LRGG 的可用性将帮助公众就其赌博活动做出明智的决定，并减少与赌博相关的危害。
