Gamblers are an unhealthy lot

They are constantly trying to beat the odds, but when it comes to their health, it seems that gamblers have not been dealt with a very strong hand.

Researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington used data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which comprises more than 43,000 Americans as a part of the study and found that people who gamble at least five times a year have more health problems than people who gamble less frequently.

Co-author Nancy Petry, PhD, an expert on gambling disorders  from the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, said that the study answered questions about the relationship between gambling and health.

"One of the questions that has never been answered is whether gambling is associated with health risks. Some people don't take gambling as a serious problem. It's regarded in the same way substance abuse was 30 years ago. Our study showed that pathological gamblers are getting sicker more and utilising health services more, so there is a greater societal cost of this addiction than is often acknowledged," she said.

The researchers took into account demographic factors including age, gender, ethnicity and income, but still found that gamblers had increased rates of high blood pressure, obesity and alcoholism and were more likely to be smokers.

In addition, these at-risk gamblers were more likely to have received treatment in an emergency room or reported a severe injury in the past year.

Even when they took into consideration the presence of other disorders such as alcoholism, obesity, smoking and psychiatric illnesses, they found that problem and pathological gamblers were more likely to report angina and cirrhosis of the liver compared to at-risk or low-risk participants.

Pathological gamblers were also more likely to have elevated heart rate and other liver diseases in addition to cirrhosis.

"Helping practitioners look at the broader issues -- that gambling doesn't occur in isolation -- is a potential outcome of this research," said Cynthia S Kerber, PhD, of Illinois Wesleyan University.

"Individuals often don't know when their gambling becomes a problem. So that makes it difficult for the individual to seek help and for healthcare providers to identify that it's a problem for their patients," Kerber added.

The study appears in the November issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.