Nexus reports 42,120 Lombardy addiction treatment cases, 7% gambling

Nexus's Osservatorio sulle Dipendenze reported 42,120 treatment cases for substance, alcohol and gambling dependencies across seven Lombardy health agencies in 2025, according to the regional bulletin of its "L'Italia delle Dipendenze 2025" project. The figures cover seven of the region's eight Agenzie di Tutela della Salute (ATS); data from ATS Brescia was insufficient and not comparable with the other agencies, so it was not included.

Substance use accounted for 28,821 users, or 68% of the total, followed by alcohol with 10,469 users (25%) and Disturbo da Gioco d'Azzardo (DGA) with 2,830 (7%). ATS Milano, covering the provinces of Milan and Lodi, recorded the largest share with 16,295 total cases: 12,105 for substances, 3,149 for alcohol and 1,041 for DGA. That represents 42% of substance cases, 30.1% of alcohol cases and 36.8% of DGA cases across the seven agencies.

By total users, ATS Insubria followed with 6,156, then ATS Bergamo with 5,973, ATS Brianza with 5,686, ATS Val Padana with 4,334, ATS Pavia with 2,291 and ATS Montagna with 1,385.

For substance dependencies, ATS Milano recorded 316 users under 18, ATS Val Padana 83, ATS Bergamo 57 and ATS Insubria 28. In ATS Milano, 5,708 substance users were aged 36 to 55, and in ATS Bergamo 2,058. Men accounted for 10,504 of the 12,105 substance users in ATS Milano.

Alcohol users were concentrated in adult age groups. In ATS Milano, of 3,149 users, 1,723 were aged 36 to 55 and 909 were over 56; in ATS Insubria, of 1,652 users, 878 were aged 36 to 55 and 580 over 56; in ATS Bergamo, 878 of 1,496 users were in the 36 to 55 group. The bulletin said men were the majority in the areas analysed.

DGA users were mostly men and adults, with a significant share in employment. In ATS Milano, of 1,041 DGA users, 929 were men, 706 were over 35 and 669 were employed among the 954 users with employment information available. In ATS Bergamo, men were 492 of 561 users and 294 were employed, while in ATS Pavia 102 of 144 DGA users were employed. The bulletin also recorded two minors in DGA treatment in ATS Milano and one in ATS Bergamo.

The bulletin is the second regional publication in the project, following Liguria. Nexus said the disaggregated reading by ATS is intended to inform prevention policies, health planning and counter-measures. The next bulletin will cover Piedmont, the third stage of the publication programme.