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# Pathological gamblers face higher risk of coronary heart disease
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/pathological_gamblers_coronary_heart_disease_0514111045/
- Published: 2011-05-14T23:45:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:14:45.000Z
- Description: In a French case-control study of 73 patients hospitalized for coronary heart disease and 61 other cardiology inpatients, 8.2% of the heart disease patients were pathological gamblers, versus none of the comparison group. Gambling did not track with more alcohol or nicotine use.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Lifestyle, Health News, CHD, #vivvo-import

By David Liu

A case-control study published online in the March 16, 2011 issue of Psychiatry showed pathological gamblers were at higher risk for coronary heart disease (CHD).

Candice Germain of Maison Blanche Hospital in Paris, France found 8.2 percent of patients with coronary heart disease were pathological gamblers. This is compared to none of those who did not suffer CHD. 

The study involved 73 patients hospitalized for coronary heart disease and 61 in-patients in the same cardiology department in the hospital for other disorders. Both groups of patients were at an average of 65 years had a similar background including education, marital relation and work status, alcohol drinking and nicotine use. 

Also the researchers discovered that pathological gambling had nothing to do with a higher level of alcohol or nicotine use nor a higher level of sensation-seeking.

The researchers sought to estabolish an association between CHD and pathological gambling because they knew pathological gamblers "share many psycholohical traits with coronary heart disease such as increased dependence to alcohol and cocaine, higher levels of depression and anxiety, stress related to gambling and smoking."

The stress had been associated with "fatigue, insomnia, respiratory ailments, intestinal distress, headache, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, the authors reported, citing early studies.

Early studies suggest that the association between gambling and increased risk for CHD may be caused by increased heart rate, high levels of noradrenergic metabolites, high levels of anxiety in pathological gamblers. Other risk factors that may also help explain the association include tobacco use, lipid status, and hypertension among other things.

The study results suggest patients who have pathological gambling problems should receive a more systematic check-up for the cardiac state, particularly those who also smoke or experence a high level of stress.

Pathological gambling is defined as a "clinical disorder characterized by a persistent and recurring failure to resist gambling behavior that is harmful to the individual and concerned others," according to the American Gambling Association (AGA).

The AGA says on its website that about 1 percent of the U.S. adults suffer this disorder.