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Beware older drinkers: You may be more impaired by a couple of glasses of wine or beer than you think.

A surprising study found that older folks are more affected by a moderated amount of alcohol than younger people. Or, simply put, you become a cheaper drunk with age.

The trouble is that you're oblivious to your slower reaction time - and that could prove hazardous if you get behind the wheel of a vehicle, the researchers warn.

The research team led by Sara Jo Nixon, now at the University of Florida, recruited 42 volunteers ages 50 to 74, and 26 volunteers ages 25 to 35.

Participants were given enough booze to reach roughly the same blood-alcohol level - 40 milligrams of alcohol for each 100 millilitres of blood or .04, which is half the legal limit for driving in most U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

They were then asked to perform various tasks to gauge their visual-motor co-ordination. In one of the tests, the participants had to connect a series of dots - alternating between letters and numbers such as A-1-B-2-C-3 - as quickly as possible without removing pen from page.

In general, the older adults were slower than their younger counterparts, according to the findings published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. For instance, those in the senior group took an average of 81 seconds to complete the dot test, while the younger participants did it in just 51 seconds. (When they hadn't consumed alcohol, older folks finished the test in 67 seconds, which is still slower than the younger drinkers and clearly demonstrates that our mental faculties, sadly, slow with age.)

Nonetheless, when asked to rate their own performance, the older drinkers didn't consider themselves to be significantly affected by downing a few drinks.

"What we found is that there is a disconnect between the level of perceived impairment and the performance of the older drinkers," said Rebecca Gilbertson, a doctoral student and lead author of the study.

And that could be problematic. "Even though they are not intoxicated, their response time is still slower than they think," she said, adding that just a few seconds can make a big difference when driving a car.

More biting bed bugs

A scientific review of the recent explosion in bed-bug infestations has uncovered some bad news and some good news: The tiny blood suckers are extremely difficult to eradicate, but at least they don't seem to spread disease.

A pair of researchers combed through 53 pervious studies, hoping to gain a comprehensive understanding of bed bugs, which are making a comeback in developed countries - including Canada. The bugs are not just confided to flophouses. They have been spotted in posh hotels, too.

"International travel, immigration, changes in pest-control practices and insecticide resistance may have contributed to the resurgence," speculated Jerome Goddard of Mississippi State University and Richard deShazo of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Writing in this week's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers report that there doesn't seem to be an easy and sure-fire way of getting rid of bed bugs, which hide in mattresses as well as nooks and crannies. Bed bugs, which emerge at night in search of a blood meal, "can survive up to a year without feeding," they note.

The parasites have long been suspected of spreading illnesses, ranging from the plague in ancient times to the more modern scourge of AIDS. But, fortunately, "there is little evidence that they are transporters of communicable disease," the researchers conclude. At worst, the bug bites may cause itchy bumps or an allergic skin reaction.

Depression and pregnancy

There's some reassuring news for expectant mothers who suffer from depression: Taking antidepressants during pregnancy doesn't appear to increase the risk of birth defects.

The findings are based on data collected by the Motherisk program of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

The researchers followed up on 1,243 women who had taken antidepressant during the crucial first three months of pregnancy when major malformations are most likely to occur. The birth defects reported by these mothers were compared with those of a control group of 928 women who had not taken the drugs.

"There really was no difference between the two groups," said Adrienne Einarson, assistant director Motherisk, and lead author of the study, which was published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

Ms. Einarson, a registered nurse, noted that many pregnant women are reluctant to take antidepressants because preliminary findings from previous studies have suggested the drugs may harm the developing fetus.

Although the new study appears to negate the earlier results, the Motherisk researchers stressed that use of antidepressants should still be made "on a case-by-case basis." But Ms. Einarson said: "I just want women to not feel so bad if they need to take an antidepressant and they are pregnant."

She added that there is a downside to not seeking treatment. Unchecked depression during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, hypertension, pre-eclampsia and low birth weight as well has postpartum depression.