Substance Use and Problem Gambling Interventions for People With Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review.

The review included only 16 studies, and most were small case studies or non-randomised designs rather than randomised trials. Most participants were adults with mild to borderline intellectual disability, so the findings do not apply well to women or people with severe or profound intellectual disability. Many included studies had small samples, high dropout, short follow-up, or serious risk of bias, so their results are unstable. Gambling was represented by one case report, so it cannot show that a treatment works. The review excluded grey literature and studies not published in English or Spanish, and it did not calculate formal intercoder reliability, so relevant evidence may have been missed.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by the Spanish Government Delegation of the National Plan on Drugs, the University of Oviedo, and the Government of the Principality of Asturias.

Do not conclude that mindfulness, CBT, or medication is an effective treatment for substance use or gambling in people with intellectual disability. The review found limited, poor-quality evidence, and gambling was only a single case report.