China's economic boom has been blamed for a significant rise in alcohol abuse during the past 20 years, with drink-driving now the No3 cause of traffic accidents. According to a WHO study by psychiatrist Wei Hao of Central South University, about 6.7 per cent of Chinese men over the age of 15 suffer alcohol dependency, and 3.7 per cent of the overall population. This is still lower than Japan or South Korea, but Wei predicts that China will rapidly pass them, AFP reports.

Fat index out

Asians are being hard hit by obesity-related health problems because diagnostic guidelines are based on one-size-fits-all western measures. Taiwanese academic Pan Wen-harn told an obesity conference in Sydney that World Health Organisation guidelines based on the body mass index missed a large number of people in Asia, AFP reports.

Thai wives No1 HIV victims

Married women now account for the largest group of new HIV infections in Thailand - more than 30 per cent of last year's estimated 17,000 cases - and they typically contract the virus from their infected husbands, according to Aids official Sombat Tanprasertsuk. The Public Health Ministry now plans to distribute condoms to married couples and encourage them to get tested, the Bangkok Post reports. Men having sex with men accounted for 20 per cent of new infections.

Suicides outnumber murders

More people kill themselves each year than are murdered and die in wars - and as many as 60 times more try unsuccessfully to commit suicide, according to two experts speaking on the sidelines of a seminar marking World Suicide Prevention Day earlier this month. Doctors, dentists and vets are particularly at risk - not because of the stress of their jobs, but because they have access to and knowledge of lethal chemicals. About one in three of the million suicides a year involve pesticides, Reuters reports. Hong Kong's suicide rate has fallen from a peak in 2003 to about 14 per 100,000 people last year - about the global average.

Blackberry gets thumbs down

BlackBerry Thumb is now an officially recognised workplace ailment, according to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). The repetitive-strain injury caused by spending too much time using the handheld devices manifests as pain and/or numbness in the thumbs and joints of the hands, healthday.com reports. 'Because the keyboard is so small, and because the thumb - the least dexterous part of the hand - is overtaxed, the risk of injury just skyrockets,' says an APTA spokeswoman. Apparently concerned about the intelligence of some BlackBerry users, the association has issued tips such as 'take frequent breaks', 'write fewer and shorter messages' and 'learn to abbreviate'.

Doctors misplace ego

Doctors often have an exaggerated view of their abilities, with the worst performers typically ranking themselves particularly high, according to a Canadian and US analysis of 17 studies. Because doctors require continuing education, it's important that they're able to assess their weaknesses, healthday.com reports. But in two-thirds of the studies, doctors 'misjudged their competence', says team leader David Davis. 'This isn't peculiar to physicians,' he says. 'It's peculiar to us all as human beings.'

Jason Sankey is a tennis professional