Several studies highlighted how COVID-19-related isolation and quarantine deeply weighed on the mental health of both the general and psychiatric population. There has been limited investigation about self-harm and impulsivity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of this study is to evaluate how COVID-19-related lockdown affected self-harm rates in an Italian hospital.

Data on 59 patients were retrospectively collected from the Emercency deparment of the Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, from March 11 to May 4, 2020 (Italian mass quarantine) and the same periods of 2019 and 2021. Demographics, psychiatric history, substance use/abuse, types of self-harm and admission in psychiatric acute unit (PAU) rates were recorded.

No statistical difference was reported in self-harm rates [9.8%(26/266) in 2019 vs 13.2%(10/76) in 2020 vs 10.7%(23/215) in 2021;p>0.05]. In 2020 subjects were younger (31.9±12.1 vs 39.2±14.4,p=0.22;vs 38.1±14.4;p=0.15) and had higher incidence of psychiatric history [90%(9/10) vs 73.1%(19/26), p=0.42;vs 65.2% (15/23),p=0.29],than 2019 and 2021 respectively. Substance use/abuse rates were significantly lower in 2020 compared to 2019 and 2021 [10%(1/10) vs 53.8%(14/26),p=0.04;vs 60.9% (14/23), p=0.02]. In 2020, subjects committing self-harms were more frequently admitted to PAU compared to 2019 and 2021 [60%(6/10)vs19.2%(5/26),p=0.04; vs 17.4% (4/23), p=0.04).

Consistent with the literature, lockdown-related measures negatively impacted on younger people, with higher rates of self-harm between March and May 2020. This, together with a higher rate of admissions to PAU, should warn the mental health system to target with specific programs to support adolescents and youngers.

No significant relationships.

Psychiatric care following self-harm treatment is pivotal in patients´ life both in short- and long-terms.

To examine follow-up psychiatric care received by patients treated for deliberate self-harm (DSH), and to assess the influence of psychiatric referral and treatment attendance on risk for subsequent mortality.

Nationwide registries were interlinked to follow all DSH patients for data on personal socioeconomic status, clinical features of DSH, psychiatric treatment and cause of death. Data were analyzed with Logistic regression and cause-specific survival analysis.

The study identified 43153 patients involving 69569 DSH episodes. Of these patients 15.7% were referred or transferred to psychiatric services and 51.0% attended psychiatric treatment within subsequent 3 months. Evidently, prior psychiatric history and psychiatric comorbidities had strong influence on both referral and attendance to psychiatric healthcare, personal socioeconomic status also deviated the likelihoods. During the follow-up, 7041 patients died from suicide (n=911) or other causes (n=6130). While suicide risk was highly associated with male gender, middle age, and particularly, prior and coexisting psychopathologies, other cause mortality was strongly associated with old age and socioeconomic disadvantages. Meanwhile, a referral to psychiatric services was associated with suicide risk, and the risk was particularly high for patients who received the referral but did not attend psychiatric treatment. The observed effect was more pronounced during the early years, and in patients of young or middle age and those with a clear intent of self-harm.

The insightful findings highlight the importance of patients´ attendance and engagement in follow-up psychiatric care on risk for subsequent mortality.

No significant relationships.

Estimation of suicide risk is difficult task, and the clinical utility of different suicide risk scales is far from ideal.

Previously we developed a 6-item clinician rated (yes/no) questionnaire (score range:0-28) that is able to detect current and past suicide risk with high sensitivity and specificity among acutely admitted psychiatric inpatients (Rihmer et al, 2017).

The 151 (75 suicidal and 76 non-suicidial) psychiatric inpatients, admitted between 1 November 2016 and 31 March 2017 were followed till 31 August 2021. Cases of completed suicides and suicide attempters receiving medical attention were recorded.

During the 53-month follow-up 3 patients (2%) completed suicide (a 46 year old male with bipolar II disorder, a 57 year old female with schizoaffective disorder, a 55 year old male with schizoaffective disorder). Both of them were at baseline among the 75 suicidal inpatients and belonged to the group of “Marked suicide risk” (range:16-28 points) and scored 28,26 and 25 points, respectively. Suicide attempts have been made by 6 patients, all of them belonged to initially “Marked suicide risk” group (one initially non-suicidal, 16 points; 5 initially suicidal 22,26,26,26 and 28 points, respectively). 141 from the 151 patients received regular personal and/or on-line psychiatric care (including patients who died by suicide).

Despite the small number of suicidal cases, our results suggest that this short, simple questionnaire might be helpful not only in detecting current and past suicidality, but also predicting future risk among discharged psyciatric inpatients.

No significant relationships.

Little is known regarding how the risk of suicide in refugees relates to their host country. Specifically, to what extent, inter-country differences in structural factors between the host countries may explain the association between refugee status and subsequent suicide is lacking in previous literature.

We aimed to investigate the risk of suicide among refugees in Sweden and Norway according to their sex, age, region/country of birth and duration of residence.

Each suicide case between the age of 18-64 years during 1998 and 2018 (17,572 and 9,443 cases in Sweden and Norway, respectively) was matched with up to 20 population-based controls, by sex and age. Multivariate-adjusted conditional logistic regression models yielding adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to test the association between refugee status and suicide.

The aORs for suicide in refugees in Sweden and Norway were 0.5 (95% CI: 0.5-0.6) and 0.3 (95% CI: 0.3-0.4), compared with the Swedish-born and Norwegian-born individuals, respectively. Stratification by region/country of birth showed similar statistically significant lower odds for most refugee groups in both host countries except for refugees from Eritrea (aOR 1.0, 95% CI: 0.7-1.6) in Sweden. The risk of suicide did not vary much across refugee groups by their duration of residence, sex and age.

The findings of almost similar suicide mortality advantages among refugees in two host countries may suggest that resiliency and culture/religion-bound attitudes could be more influential for suicide risk among refugees than other post-migration environmental and structural factors in the host country.

No significant relationships.

In Finland more than 40% of fertile aged women used some type of hormonal contraception (HC) in the period 2010-2013. A proportion of women using HC complains of side effects, including mood symptoms. The relationship between the use of HC and the risk of attempted suicide (AS) is still a matter of debate.

To assess the association of the use of HC with the risk of AS during 2017-2019.

Data were retrieved from the Prescription Centre, Care Register of Health Care, Register of Primary Health Care Visits and Statistics Finland. A total of 587 823 women, aged 15-49 years, using and not using HC in 2017 were analysed in the initial incidence study. All incident AS cases during 2018-2019, and their 4:1 age-matched controls (1 174 346 person-years) were analysed in a nested case-control setting via conditional logistic regression models.

Altogether 818 AS cases occurred during the follow-up (incidence rate: 0.70/1000 person-years, 95% CI 0.65–0.75), with an IRR of HC vs. no-HC use of 0.73 (0.63–0.83). Current use (in the 180 days before the event) of estradiol- or ethinylestradiol-containing HC was associated with a lower risk of AS (0.53, 0.33–0.87; 0.49, 0.37–0.64, respectively) compared to non-use of HC. After controlling for covariates (marital and socioeconomic status, education level, use of psychotropic medications), only current use of HC containing ethinylestradiol remained significant (0.39, 0.23–0.65).

A lower risk of AS is associated with the use of HC, and specifically of ethinylestradiol-containing HC.

No significant relationships.

Assumptions linking poverty with sex, associating poverty with agency, as well as connecting agency with suicide, are widespread. Women are often seen as being affected more by poverty than men. Men are frequently considered to possess more agency than women, and men are also more prone to suicide than women.

The research aims to assess if poverty, agency and suicide differences occur across sexual lines. The study will attempt to establish if a poverty-agency-suicide relationship is supported by data, and how the poverty-agency and the agency-suicide relationships are in turn influenced by sex.

A cross-sectional survey design was used and interviews were conducted with 3 531 respondents. Chi-squared tests were used to calculate whether differences on poverty, agency and suicide ideation exist across sexual lines. Correlation analysis was implemented to test for the poverty-agency-suicide relationship, and regression analyses were used to test the moderating effects of sex on the poverty-agency and the agency-suicide relationships.

Men and women did not differ significantly on levels of poverty, agency, nor suicide ideation. Poverty did relate to agency (a negligible effect), but agency did not have an effect on suicide ideation. Sex did not moderate the poverty-agency nor the agency-suicide relationship.

The data do not support established stereotypes nor empirical findings regarding sex differences across the poverty, agency and suicide ideation spectrums. The data also do not support the poverty-agency-suicide relationship and sex does not influence this relationship. Healthcare professionals should be aware that (well-founded) stereotypes do not necessarily materialize in all populations.

No significant relationships.

Sleep disorders and psychiatric disease are closely related, and psychiatric diseases are associated with elevated suicide risks. Yet, the association between sleep disorders and suicide remains to be assessed using a consistent measure of sleep disorders.

The aim of this study was to examine whether people with a hospital-diagnosis of sleep disorders had higher suicide rates than people with no diagnosis.

In a cohort study, nationwide data on all persons aged 15+ years living in Denmark during 1980-2016 were analysed. Sleep disorders were identified through diagnoses recorded during contacts to somatic hospitals. Incidence Rate Ratios (IRR) were estimated using Poisson regression models and adjusted for relevant covariates.

In all, 3,674,563 males and 3,688,164 females were included, of whom 82,223 (2.2%, mean age: 50.2, SD: 17.5) males and 40,003 (1.1%, mean age: 50.6, SD: 19.9) females had sleep disorder diagnoses. Compared to those with no sleep disorders, the adjusted IRRs for suicide were 1.6 (95% CI, 1.4-1.7) and 2.2 (95% CI, 1.8-2.6) for males and females with sleep disorders, respectively. Excess rates for narcolepsy were found for males (IRR:1.2, 95% CI, 1.0-1.5) and females (IRR:3.3, 95% CI, 3.0-4.1), and for sleep apnea in males (IRR:1.8, 95% CI, 1.5-2.2). Males and females had IRRs of 4.1 (95% CI, 3.1-5.5) and 7.0 (95% CI, 4.8-10.1), respectively, 6 months after being diagnosed with a sleep disorder.

Sleep disorders were associated with higher suicide rates even after adjusting for pre-existing mental disorders. Our findings suggest attention towards suicidal ideation in patients suffering from sleep disorders is warranted.

Disclosures and Acknowledgements: Adam Spira has received honoraria for serving as a consultant to Merck and from Springer Nature Switzerland AG for guest editing special issues of Current Sleep Medicine Reports. The other authors report no conflict of in

Depression and suicidal behaviour are major public health problems everywhere but particularly in Hungary where until 2000 the suicide rate was among the highest in the world.

To analyse the possible causes of declining national suicide rate of Hungary.

Review of the scientific literature on Hungarian suicide scene published in the last 40 years.

The peak of Hungarian national suicide rate was in 1985 (46/100.000) but due to a steady and continuous, year by year decline, in 2019 it was only 16/100.000, which represents a more than 65% decrease. Rate of unrecognised/untreated mood disorders, availability of health/psychiatric care, antidepressant and lithium prescription, unemployment, smoking and alcohol consumption as well as lithium and arsenic contents of drinking water were the most investigated possible determinants of suicide mortality of the country. More widespread and effective treatment of psychiatric/mood disorder patients, decreased rate of unemployment and smoking as well as the continuously improving living standards were the most important contributors to the great decline of the national suicide rate. However, in 2020 – the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic – the national suicide rate rose by 16%, which was almost totally accounted for by the increase of suicides among males.

Suicidal behaviour is preventable in many cases, but as it is a complex, multicausal phenomenon, its prevention should involve several medical/psychiatric, psychosocial and community interventions.

No significant relationships.

Executive function organizes and directs behaviour but alterations in this cognitive domain can lead to inaccurate perception, interpretation and response to environmental information, which could be a risk factor for suicide.

To explore executive function performance of depressed recent suicide attempters in comparison to depressed past suicide attempters, depressed non-attempters and healthy controls.

96 participants from the Psychiatry Department of the Araba University Hospital-Santiago were recruited as follows: 20 patients with a recent suicide attempt (<30days) diagnosed with a Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), 33 MDD patients with history of attempted suicide, 23 non-attempter MDD patients and 20 healthy controls. All participants underwent a clinical interview and neuropsychological assessment on executive function with the Wisconsin Sorting Card Test. Backward multiple regressions were performed adjusting for significant confounding variables. For group comparisons ANOVA test and Bonferroni post hoc test were performed with p<0.05 significance level.

Patient groups did not differ regarding severity of depression. All patient groups performed significantly worse than healthy controls on executive function. Adjusted comparisons between patient groups indicated that recent suicide attempters had a poorer performance in this cognitive domain in comparison to both depressed lifetime attempters and depressed non-attempters (B=0.296, p=0.019 and B=0.301, p=0.028 respectively).

Executive function performance is altered in recent suicide attempts. As impaired executive function can be a risk factor for suicide, preventive interventions on suicide should focus on its assessment and rehabilitation.

No significant relationships.

Almost all definitions of impulsivity include the notion of distorted time perception such as impaired awareness of the future or premature responses. Preclinical evidence suggests that stimulant drugs speed up the internal clock, making time pass faster than it actually is. However, stimulant-addicted humans, who are drug-abstinent seem to over-estimate long time intervals.

The present study aims to investigate time processing in actively using patients with cocaine use disorder (CUD). We hypothesise that active cocaine use will be associated with an under-estimation of long time intervals.

We recruited 48 men with a chronic history of cocaine use, meeting the DSM-5 criteria for CUD, and 42 healthy men without a history of substance use disorders. All participants completed a time reproduction task in which they were presented four times with six different time durations and were subsequently asked to reproduce them by pressing the space bar for the same time duration of the target interval they had just seen. Participants also completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11).

Overall precision in time reproduction was significantly reduced in CUD patients (F6,81=3.97,p=0.002), which was particularly evident for longer time delays. CUD patients’ estimated-to-target-duration ratios were marginally shorter for the 11000ms (F1,86=3.1,p=0.084) and significantly shorter for the 18000ms and 24000ms time intervals (both p<0.05). Time reproduction performance correlated with self-reported attentional impulsivity on the BIS-11 in both CUD patients and healthy controls (all p<0.05).

Consistent with preclinical work, the inner clock of humans with regular cocaine use seems to be accelerated.

No significant relationships.

Alcohol and cannabis use disorders are the most frequent comorbid substance use disorders (SUDs) among patients with eating disorders (EDs). EDs and SUDs involving alcohol and cannabis are independently associated with excess mortality.

To investigate the impact of comorbid alcohol use disorder (AUD) and cannabis use disorder (CUD) on mortality in anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and unspecified eating disorder (USED) compared with matched control subjects.

This retrospective cohort study was conducted using Danish nationwide registers. The risk of mortality among ED patients with/without AUD and/or CUD was compared to matched control subjects with/without AUD and/or CUD using hazard ratios (HRs).

Of the 20,759 included ED patients, 4.7% and 4.3% had AUD and CUD, respectively. The corresponding figures for the 83,036 control subjects were 1.0% (AUD) and 1.3% (CUD). ED patients without SUDs exhibited an increased risk of mortality compared to control subjects without SUDs (adjusted HR 2.9, P<.001). Mortality risk was higher among ED patients with AUD (adjusted HR 11.8, P<.001) or CUD (adjusted HR 4.6, P<.001) compared to control subjects without AUD/CUD. In addition, patients with AN, BN, and USED, who had comorbid AUD and/or CUD, exhibited an elevated risk of mortality compared to control subjects without AUD/CUD (AN: adjusted HR 11.3, P<.001; BN: adjusted HR 5.9, P<.001; USED: adjusted HR 10.9, P<.001).

Comorbid AUD and/or CUD increase mortality risk in patients with EDs. In order to reduce mortality in ED patients, prevention and treatment of AUD and CUD is important.

No significant relationships.

Animal studies have shown that the simultaneous blockade of α1b-noradrenergic receptors and 5HT2A-serotonergic receptors strongly decreases alcohol intake. In addition, recent clinical studies have indicated that the selective α1b antagonist prazosin could be effective on alcohol use reduction in alcohol-dependent subjects.

Cocktail is a double-blind, randomised, parallel-group, three-arm, multicentre, placebo-controlled phase 2 proof-of-concept study aiming at demonstrating the superiority of a 12-week treatment with the KT110 combination of cyproheptadine (8 mg/day or 12 mg/day) and prazosin (5 mg/day or 10 mg/day) over placebo on the reduction of total alcohol consumption.

The study two main inclusion criteria are a DSM5 diagnosis of severe alcohol use disorder and a WHO high-risk drinking risk level. The primary endpoint is the change from baseline (4 weeks preceding randomization) to the end of treatment (Weeks 9-12) in the mean quantity of alcohol consumed per day in the three groups. Daily alcohol consumption is determined using the Timeline Follow Back, automatically be filled in on the basis electronic patient reported outcomes platform. The 12-week treatment period is followed by a 4-week post-treatment follow-up.

One hundred and eighty patients are planned to be randomized 1:1:1 into the two treatment groups. Enrollment of patients started in November 2019, and will end in July 2021.

In this communication, we will present the rationale for the development of the KT110 combination of cypropheptadine and prazosin for the treatment of alcohol use disorders, as well as the main features of the Coctkail study. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04108104.

Member of advisory boards, DSMB, or steering committees, speaker honoraria or consultancy for Bioprojet, D&A Pharma Ethypharm, and Kinnov Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, and Pfizer D&A Pharma, Ethypharm, Kinnov Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, and Pfizer.

The associations of problematic social media use, the special use of image-based social media (photo editing, following celebrities) and mental health (body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, depression) have been established (e.g. Yurdagül et al., 2019; Gioia, Griffiths, Boursier, 2020; Lowe-Calverley and Grieve, 2021). The links may be explained with the theory of social comparison and self-objectification.

Testing theory-oriented hypotheses related to image-based social media use and body dissatisfaction, gender specifically, among adolescents and young adults.

Three surveys have been conducted with convenience sampling: (1) 117 Hungarian university students in person (mean age=22.4, SD=2.9, 79% female), (2) 383 high school students in person (mean age=16.5, SD=1.2, 58% female); (3) 124 Israeli adolescents online (mean age=16.8, SD=2.7, 68% female).

(1): The tendency of modifying body image in social media (the frequency of modifying pictures, the use of filters) mediates the association between body shame and problematic social media use. Physical appearance social comparison mediates the association between self-related negative emotions and attitude (low self-esteem+ineffectiveness) and problematic social media use. (2): The technology-based social comparison mediate the association between muscle checking and problematic Instagram use among boys. (3) Physical appearance social comparison mediates the association between the frequency of following celebrities and body dissatisfaction among girls, but not among boys.

During the use of image based social media, social comparison and the exposure to the beauty standards may lead to poorer mental health, which could result in problematic social media use as maladaptive coping.

No significant relationships.

Gene-environment interactions (GxE) are considered to make a substantial impact on the risk of alcohol dependence (AD).

The aim of the study: to test the associations between the functional polymorphism Val158Met (rs6265) in the catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) gene, affecting dopamine neurotransmission, and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and their GxE interactions with AD risk.

The study included 149 AD inpatients (mean age 29.9 (SD=3.91), 16.1% females) and 201 healthy volunteers (23.3 (2.48), 30.1% females). The Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) was used for assessing ACE. COMT Val158Met polymorphism was detected by RT-PCR.

First, COMT Val158Met polymorphism was associated only with adverse childhood experience referring o parental relationship (ACE-IQ), but differently in two groups. Healthy minor Met158 carriers have lower scores on the subscale “relationship with parents/guardians” (P) (p=0.025) and “physical neglect” (PN) (p=0.059) vs. homozygous Val158 carriers. However, AD patients - Met158carriers have a tendency to a higher score on the subscale “one or no parents, parental separation or divorce” (PSD) (p=0.078). Then logistic regression revealed associations of these ACE scores with increased AD risk: P (p=0.001, OR=1.186, 95%CI [1.069-1.315]), PN (p=0.024, OR=1.254, 95%CI [1.030-1.526]), and PSD (p=0.016, OR=1.499, 95%CI [1.080-2.082]). No associations of COMT Val158Met alone or in interactions with these ACE-IQ scores with the AD risk were found.

Adverse childhood experience referring to parental relationship is associated with alcohol dependence risk and separately with COMT Val158Met, but no clear interactions in frame of GxE has been supported.

No significant relationships.

Internet gaming has become a topic of interest since it has positive but also negative effects.

To explore the relationship between internet gaming, aggression and psychological distress in young adults.

229 Portuguese subjects (55.5% females), with a mean age of 21.13 years old (SD = 2.075, range: 18-29) filled in the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form, the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21.

The total score of internet gaming was of 15.90 (SD=6.32), 79.9% (n=183) of the sample used to play videogames and 24.5% (n=56) spent more than ten hours playing a week. Internet gaming was correlated with physical aggression (r=.23**), anger (r=.31**) and hostility (r=.35**); and with depression (r=.36**), anxiety (r=.28**), and stress (r=.31**). A Mann Whitney U test revealed significant differences in internet gaming disorder levels of males (Md=130.75, n=102) and females (Md=102.35, n=127), U=4871.000 z=-3.232, p=.001, r=4.49.

Internet gaming disorder is associated with aggression and psychological distress, and males presented higher internet gaming disorder levels. Future studies are needed to explore the bidirectional relationships between gaming disorder, aggression and psychological distress.

No significant relationships.

Globalization and increased competition in the engineering profession induce to work longer and harder, which predisposes to workaholism or work addiction. Identifying individual factors associated with workaholism could help to maintain the mental health at work.

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of workaholism and its associated socio-demographic and historic factors among Tunisian engineers.

A cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study conducted among Tunisian engineers during July 2021. The data were collected by an online questionnaire including the socio-demographic and historic information and the “the Work Addiction Risk Test” (WART) which was used to assess the workaholism.

A total of 52 engineers participated in this study (40.4% female and 59.6% male). The average age was 30.75 years (SD=6.25 years). Concerning marital status, thirty-five engineers (67.3%) were single. Of the participants, 17.3% had a history of chronic somatic-disorders and 25 % of them had a history of a psychiatric disorder, such as depressive disorder in 11.5% of cases. The prevalence of workaholism in Tunisian engineers was 23.1%. Workaholism was associated to older age with no significant difference (p = 0.11). The analysis showed that workaholics had more history of depressive disorder (p = 0.02) compared to non-workaholics. However, no significant difference was found by the other socio-demographic factors according to workaholism.

Workaholism is a significant phenomenon among Tunisian engineers. It may depend of personal characteristics and induce negative consequences on mental health and lead to depression.

No significant relationships.

Internet-addiction (IA) is one of the most common non-chemical (or behavioral) addictions with genetic impact and substantial effects of psychological and personality characteristics, taking into account the childhood traumatic experience. Gene-environment interactions (GxE) may substantially impact on the risk of Internet-addiction (IA).

Aim: to test the associations between the functional polymorphism rs6265 (Val66Met) in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene, affecting BDNF function, and childhood traumatic experience and their GxE interactions with IA risk.

In total 456 participants were screened with Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) to cut a cohort on two groups: IA (CIAS total score ≥ 65, n=100) and controls (CIAS total score less 64, n=356). The Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) was used to assess childhood traumatic experience using its main domains: parents (P), family (F), abuse (A) and violence (V). BDNF Val158Met polymorphism was detected by RT-PCR.

Logistic regression revealed associations of P scores with increased IA risk only after adjustment for sex and age (p=0.01, OR=1.166, 95%CI[1.038-1.309]) and V scores with decreased IA risk (p=0.000, OR=0.799, 95%CI [0,233;0,744] only before adjustment. No associations of F and A with IA risk were found. BDNF Val158Met per se was not associated with IA risk, but significant effect of interaction V score*BDNF rs6265 CC on IA risk in “protective” manner was revealed (р=0.039, OR=0.873, 95%CI[0.768-0.993]) in a model adjusted for sex and age.

Childhood violence experience interacts with BDNF Val158Met polymorphism and CC (ValVal) genotype may be possibly protective factor decreasing the internet addiction risk

This work was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research: RFBR grant # 18-29-22079

With the Covid-19 pandemic numerous questions about the behaviour of gambling addicts have risen, with the lockdown causing a lack of structure, peer supervision and support. The first reports have suggested an increase in activity and riskier choices.

Our aim was to explore how the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced gambling habits.

Data was collected from companies in Germany and Croatia which provide online gambling services, and statistically analyzed.

In Germany in April 2020, there was a 51.19% decrease in number of players when compared to April 2019, but a 116.46% rise in the number of tickets per player. In comparison, in April 2021 a rise of 704.43% occurred in number of active players compared to April 2020, with a 277.56% increase in ballots and a decrease in number of tickets per player by 53%. Additional results showed a 1.2% decrease in spendings on sports events in April 2020 compared to April 2019, but a 277.88% increase for sporting events spendings in April 2021. Preliminary results from Croatia show an increase in online gambling activities.

In 2020, despite a drop in active players, the increase in stakes and frequency of play resulted only in a slight decrease in sporting events spendings. In 2021 the recorded increase in all categories except in frequency, points to the idea that restoring life to usual rhythm reduces the frequency of an individual’s play. In conclusion, further research and monitoring of gambling addicts’ behaviour in the “new normal” is needed.

No significant relationships.

Patients with comorbid cocaine and alcohol dependence have a worse prognosis with lack of adherence to follow-up and treatment, frequent psychosocial problems, and higher rates of relapse [1]. Concurrent use of both substances produces cocaethylene, which is associated with more toxicity than cocaine alone [2].

To determine the efficacy of disulfiram compared to nalmefene in the treatment of comorbid cocaine and alcohol use.

A quasi-experimental open study was designed on 41 outpatients, with a follow-up of at least 1 year at the Mental Health Unit, aged between 18 and 65 years, diagnosed with cocaine and alcohol dependence (ICD-10). A minimum simultaneous weekly consumption of 2 grams of cocaine and 12 SD (Standard Drink) of alcohol during the month before, described by self-records was established. Treatment with oral disulfiram 250mg/day was assigned to 21 patients, and with oral nalmefene 18mg/day to 20 individuals. Observation period was for 6 months. Urinalysis and alcohol breath test were carried out twice a week. Abstinence was defined by obtaining negative results for at least 4 consecutive weeks. Statistical analysis were performed using SPSS v21.0 (significance p<0.05).

61.9% of patients treated with disulfiram achieved a minimum of 4 consecutive weeks of abstinence from cocaine and alcohol, compared to 40% in the nalmefene group (χ²=1.188; gl=1; p=0.276). There were no significant differences.

Disulfiram or nalmefene monotherapy seems clinically ineffective or insufficient in reducing the combined use of cocaine and alcohol. Further research is needed to assess the effect of both drugs simultaneously.

No significant relationships.

ICD-11 describes Gaming disorder as a behavioral pattern characterized by impaired control over gaming, increased gaming priority, and escalation despite consequences. This description is similar to other addictive behaviors with minor specifics. However, it is unclear if gaming disorder has any specific psychopathological profile.

The study aimed to investigate gaming disorder’s connection to primary psychopathological symptomatology.

515 gamers aged 16-56 (75% male) anonymously completed online questionnaires: SCL-90-R and Video Games Addiction Scale (VGAS) – our new 26-items questionnaire based on ICD-11 criteria for gaming disorder. VGAS showed good reliability (Cronbach`s α=0.858) and external validity (positive correlation with Chen Internet Addiction Scale, r=0.472, p=0.000).

Gaming disorder severity showed positive correlations (p=0.000) with all SCL-90-R scales. Pearson`s r ranged from 0.311 (phobic anxiety) to 0.431 (depression). Thus, gaming disorder showed no specific combination of psychopathological symptoms. Instead, all symptoms had almost equal correlations with the VGAS score.

Gaming disorder is not linked to any particular combination of psychopathological symptoms. On the contrary, as suggested by our study, different symptoms are almost equally related to excessive gaming. Several interpretations are possible. Problematic gaming can be a way for psychologically distressed people to deal with different symptoms. Conversely, gaming disorder can itself lead to psychological maladjustment. Thus, further thorough research is required, specifically when deciding on the primary diagnosis in comorbid cases or choosing the therapeutic aims.

No significant relationships.