Are you a binge drinker?
2007-11-10 21:29
London - Increased binge drinking among
women is leading to previously unseen cases of burst bladders, a
report said on Friday.
The condition is more common among men, but three female
cases were reported at the Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield,
Yorkshire, during the past year.
The condition among women is so rare that hospital staff had
difficulty at first diagnosing it as a ruptured bladder.
Dr Mohantha Dooldeniya told the British Medical Journal
(BMJ) that his team initially thought the women were suffering
from urinary infection or appendicitis.
All three later underwent bladder surgery.
"Alcohol consumption increases the volume of urine held
within the bladder and dulls the senses such that the patient
has a reduced urge to void despite the increased bladder
volume," the report said.
"Minor trauma, such as from a fall, will further increase
the pressure and can cause rupture."
Alcohol misuse costs the NHS up to three billion pounds a year.
Some 510 per 100 000 female hospital admissions were
attributable to alcohol in England last year, up from 466 the
previous year, Liverpool John Moores University said in a report
last month.
That compared with 909 per 100 000 for men.
"Women have now caught up with men in their alcohol
consumption, and health concerns that were initially raised
about drinking habits in men now seem to affect women as well,"
the BMJ said.
- Reuters