Demographic characteristics, gambling engagement, mental health, and associations with harmful gambling risk among UK Armed Forces serving personnel.

INTRODUCTION: Harmful gambling negatively impacts individuals, families and communities. Growing international evidence indicates that the Armed Forces (AF) community may be at a comparatively higher risk of experiencing harm from gambling than the general population. The current study sought to identify general predictors of harmful gambling and gambling engagement among UK AF serving personnel (AFSP). METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, exploratory survey to identify associations between demographic factors, mental health, gambling engagement and gambling type in a sample (N=608) of AFSP. RESULTS: Most of the sample reported past-year gambling, with 23% having experienced harm. Male gender, younger age and lower educational attainment all predicted harmful gambling, as did mental health variables of prior generalised anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptomatology. Strategy-based gambling and online sports betting were also predictive of experiencing harm from gambling. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of harm from gambling is associated with demographic, mental health and gambling engagement variables among AFSP. Better understanding of these predictors is important for the development of individualised treatment approaches for harmful gambling.

Social and economic costs of gambling problems and related harm among UK military veterans.

INTRODUCTION: Military veterans are at heightened risk of problem gambling. Little is known about the costs of problem gambling and related harm among United Kingdom (UK) Armed Forces (AF) veterans. We investigated the social and economic costs of gambling among a large sample of veterans through differences in healthcare and social service resource use compared with age-matched and gender-matched non-veterans from the UK AF Veterans' Health and Gambling Study. METHODS: An online survey measured sociodemographic characteristics, gambling experience and problem severity, mental health and healthcare resource utilisation. Healthcare provider, personal social service and societal costs were estimated as total adjusted mean costs and utility, with cost-consequence analysis of a single timepoint. RESULTS: Veterans in our sample had higher healthcare, social service and societal costs and lower utility. Veterans had greater contacts with the criminal justice system, received more social service benefits, had more lost work hours and greater accrued debt. A cost difference of £590 (95% CI -£1016 to -£163) was evident between veterans with scores indicating problem gambling and those reporting no problems. Costs varied by problem gambling status. CONCLUSIONS: Our sample of UK AF veterans has higher healthcare, social service and societal costs than non-veterans. Veterans experiencing problem gambling are more costly but have no reduction in quality of life.

Incidence and clinical presentation of acute otitis media in children aged <6 years in European medical practices.

We conducted an epidemiological, observational cohort study to determine the incidence and complications of acute otitis media (AOM) in children aged <6 years. Data on physician-diagnosed AOM were collected from retrospective review of medical charts for the year preceding enrolment and then prospectively in the year following enrolment. The study included 5776 children in Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. AOM incidence was 256/1000 person-years [95% confidence interval (CI) 243-270] in the prospective study period. Incidence was lowest in Italy (195, 95% CI 171-222) and highest in Spain (328, 95% CI 296-363). Complications were documented in <1% of episodes. Spontaneous tympanic membrane perforation was documented in 7% of episodes. Both retrospective and prospective study results were similar and show the high incidence during childhood in these five European countries. Differences by country may reflect true differences and differences in social structure and diagnostic procedures.

Implementing a teenage health service in primary care.

The health of teenagers is currently a priority of the NHS, with many schemes and projects being developed. There are documented difficulties for teenagers in accessing health care, especially within general practice. This article describes the development and evaluation of a tailor-made clinic in the primary care setting.