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Hazards: Gamblers report more health problems
People who gamble are more likely to suffer from a variety of health problems, including heart and liver diseases, a new study finds. The researchers looked at three kinds of gamblers, whom they described as pathological, problem or at-risk, and found that all of them tended to report more medical concerns than the general population.
The pathological gamblers had the highest number of reported problems. But even occasional gamblers raised some red flags.
“Taken together,” the researchers write in Psychosomatic Medicine, “these findings indicate that even a moderate amount of gambling (five or more times a year) is associated with some decreased health functioning.” Benjamin J. Morasco, now with the Portland VA Medical Centre in Oregon, led the study when he was at the University of Connecticut in Farmington.
The researchers drew on information gathered in a national health survey of more than 43,000 people. The people surveyed were asked a broad range of questions about their health and behaviours, including how often they gambled.
Gamblers were considered pathological if they were preoccupied with gambling and kept doing it even though it was causing difficulties at home or work. Problem gamblers were those whose troubles were not as severe. People who gambled five or more times a year were described as at-risk.
There were several explanations for why gamblers might suffer more health problems, the researchers said. People who gamble a lot are more likely to smoke and drink heavily. Beyond that, they may have higher stress levels.
By some estimates, the researchers said, the at-risk group makes up about a fourth of the population, so the findings suggest that there may be public health implications.—Dawn/The New York Times
The $25 million will be booked into the fourth quarter 2006 figures but Solvay Pharmaceuticals is increasing its R&D and marketing spending by a similar amount. "Consequently, the guidance given to the markets on October 27, 2006 concerning Solvay Pharmaceuticals full year expected results and margins remains basically unchanged," Solvay said.
Drugs like SLV319 and Acomplia work by switching off the same brain circuits that make people hungry when they smoke cannabis. Sanofi's Acomplia, which is viewed by analysts as a potential multibillion-dollar-a-year seller, is already on sale in Europe but is still awaiting approval in the United States.
The French group said earlier on Friday it expected to hear back from U.S. regulators by April 26. KBC Securities said in a research note that it had already increased its launch probability for SLV319 to 40 per cent from 20 per cent in early October after Solvay's investor day. "Note that we have assumed launch of SLV319 in 2010 with peak sales of 400 million euros," KBC said. It added it would slightly adjust its earnings model for the fourth quarter of 2006 to take into account the milestone payment, but would keep its "Buy" rating and 130 euro price target.
Solvay's shares were off 0.4 per cent at 112.40 euros at 0900 GMT, while the Dow Jones European chemicals index was off 0.2 per cent and the health index off 0.7 per cent.
In most cases, hormones released from fat are responsible for raising the cancer risk. Cancer specialists used the most recent figures on obesity from the Department of Health to calculate the number of people at risk of developing weight-related cancer. According to the health department figures, there were 24.2 million obese or overweight people in the UK in 2003, a number the department predicts will rise by 14 per cent to 27.6 million by 2010. Statisticians at Cancer Research UK calculated this would mean 1,500 extra cases of weight-related cancer a year by 2010.
Researchers believe excess weight causes 3.8 per cent of cancers. The projected rise in people becoming overweight or obese means that weight-related cancers are likely to rise from 10,500 cases a year to 12,000 in just seven years. After smoking, obesity is considered one of the most important preventable causes of cancer, but a survey conducted by Cancer Research UK found that only 29 per cent of overweight or obese people knew that being fat increases the risk. Tim Key, an expert on cancer and diet at Cancer Research UK, said: “It is now well established that being overweight increases the risk of developing several types of cancer including breast and womb cancer due to the increased production of the hormone oestrogen in the fatty tissue. Research in the US found that a body mass index (BMI) of between 30 and 35, the range classified as obese, increases the risk of dying from cancer by a third. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight and 18.5 to 24.9 as healthy.
Obese people who develop cancer often have a lower chance of surviving because their excess weight makes early diagnosis difficult, so the disease is more advanced when diagnosed. Britain is witnessing a long-term surge in other cancers. Malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer, increased by 42 per cent in men and 27 per cent in women, while kidney cancer increased by 14 per cent in men and 20 per cent in women. Uterine cancer and breast cancer increased by 19 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. But stomach cancer cases fell by over 20 per cent in men and women.—Dawn/ The Guardian News Service
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