Some men get so caught up in watching sports on TV that they put off going to the emergency room for treatment of medical problems until the ball game is over, new research suggests.

David Jerrard, MD, of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore and colleagues reached their conclusions after studying patterns of admissions to the emergency room over a three-year period.

The team had observed in earlier research that visits by men to emergency departments declined during televised sporting events. The latest study corroborated their hypothesis that they would see an increase once the games were over.

"That's exactly what we found," Jerrard said.

ER visits were tracked during and immediately after 800 postseason professional football games, major league baseball games, or Division l college football or basketball games. The pattern of delaying until after the game was over was not limited to major events such as the Super Bowl.

The results of the study have been released to the American College of Emergency Physicians and will be presented next week at the organization's 37th annual scientific session in New Orleans.

"It's important for everyone to seek immediate medical attention when they are experiencing the symptoms of a medical emergency," Dr. Jerrard cautioned.

"Men should not risk their health by putting off going to the emergency room because they want to see the final results of a football game," he continued. "It could be the last game they ever see."

The study did not address what health conditions brought men to the emergency department. Additional research is needed to explain the reasons for the delays, Dr. Jerrard said, but he speculated that some men didn't want to miss the games.

Some physicians who were not involved in the study have noted the same pattern but do not consider it likely that men would put off emergency treatment for severe symptoms -- such as chest pains -- just to get a final score.