Betting on Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation to Treat Gambling Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Gambling disorder (GD) is a behavioral addiction that severely impacts individuals' functioning, leading to high socioeconomic costs. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NiBS) has received attention for treating psychiatric and neurological conditions in recent decades, but there is no recommendation for its use for GD. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review and analyze the available literature to determine the effectiveness of NiBS in treating GD. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we screened four electronic databases up to July 2022 and selected relevant English-written original articles. We included ten papers in the systematic review and seven in the meta-analysis. As only two studies employed a sham-controlled design, the pre-post standardized mean change (SMCC) was computed as effect size only for real stimulation. The results showed a significant effect of NiBS in reducing craving scores (SMCC = -0.69; 95% CI = [-1.2, -0.2], p = 0.010). Moreover, considering the GD's frequent comorbidity with mood disorders, we ran an exploratory analysis of the effects of NiBS on depressive symptoms, which showed significant decreases in post-treatment scores (SMCC = -0.71; 95% CI = [-1.1, -0.3], p < 0.001). These results provide initial evidence for developing NiBS as a feasible therapy for GD symptoms but further comprehensive research is needed to validate these findings. The limitations of the available literature are critically discussed.