But the study shows that gamblers' problems extend beyond financial woes and mental health issues, and influence physical health, said Petry, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington.

She and her colleagues report their findings in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Using data from a federal survey on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the U.S., the researchers found that pathological gamblers were more than twice as likely as people without gambling problems to have angina and nearly three times more likely to have liver disease. They were also almost twice as likely to suffer from tachycardia, an excessively rapid heartbeat.

The subjects were at increased risk of developing these disorders even after other factors, including alcohol abuse and mental health disorders, were taken into account.

Pathological gambling is a psychiatric disorder that is diagnosed when a person meets at least 5 out of 10 criteria - such as being preoccupied by gambling, needing to make ever larger bets to gain a "high," and lying to family and others to cover up their gambling.

Less than 0.5 percent of the 43,093 Americans in the current survey met this definition. Another 1 percent met a few of the criteria for pathological gambling and were considered "problem" gamblers.

The problem gamblers also had more medical problems, Petry's team found, with higher risks of high blood pressure, angina and cirrhosis of the liver than non-gamblers.

Alcoholism, smoking and mental health disorders did not fully explain these physical health risks in this group either, which suggests that something about gambling itself does the harm, according to Petry.

Chronic stress, a generally sedentary lifestyle and heavy exposure to secondhand smoke are some of the factors that might be at work, she and her colleagues speculate.

"We hope this makes people re-think legalized gambling," Petry said. At the very least, she noted, the findings show that problem gamblers often have serious health problems that need treatment. But few doctors, or even mental health professionals, ask patients about gambling habits.

SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine, November 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Problem drinking increases older men's fall risk

Last Updated: 2006-12-01 16:03:24 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older men with a history of problem drinking are more likely to fall, putting them at risk of debilitating fractures, a new study shows.

But men who reported recent drinking had stronger bones than those who abstained, and men with no history of alcohol abuse who drank moderately had a reduced risk of falling, Dr. Peggy M. Cawthon of the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and colleagues report.

Research to date on drinking and fracture risk in older men has had mixed results, Cawthon and her team note in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Some studies have found alcoholics have a lower bone mineral density (BMD), but it is not clear if this is due to poor nutrition or the effects of alcohol itself. Other research has linked alcohol consumption to greater BMD, while findings of research on how drinking affects fall risk have been contradictory.

To investigate the issue, Cawthon and her colleagues assessed the alcohol intake of 5,974 men aged 65 and older, and then followed them for about four years.

Just over one third of the men drank very little (less than 12 drinks per year), 52.8 percent were light drinkers (less than 14 drinks per week) and 11.7 percent were heavy drinkers (14 or more alcoholic drinks per week). Another 16.8 percent reported they had ever had a drinking problem.

The researchers used the CAGE questionnaire, a series of four questions, to assess problem drinking.

The more the men drank, the researchers found, the greater their BMD. There was no effect of alcohol consumption on the likelihood of suffering a fracture.

The light alcohol users were 23 percent less likely to report falling twice in the first year of the study than were the abstainers.

However, the men who reported problem drinking were 62 percent more likely to have fallen than those with no history of problem drinking. Men who currently abstained from alcohol and were past problem drinkers had at the greatest risk of falls.

It's possible, the researchers note, that men who are problem drinkers, or who have been problem drinkers in the past, may have worse neuromuscular function than those with no such history. Further research is needed, they conclude, to better understand how alcohol use affects older men's health over time.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, November 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.