Nearly as many men as women experience compulsive buying disorder, according to a study by the Stanford University School of Medicine.

"The widespread opinion that most compulsive buyers are women may be wrong," said lead researcher Lorrin Koran.

People who have compulsive buying disorder - sometimes called compulsive shopping disorder - are often struck with an irresistible, intrusive and often senseless impulse to buy.

It is common for sufferers to go on frequent shopping binges and to accumulate large quantities of unnecessary, unwanted items.

Sufferers often rack up thousands of dollars in debt and lie to their loved ones about their purchases.

The consequences can be bankruptcy, divorce, embezzlement and even suicide attempts.

The Stanford University School of Medicine study found that more than one in 20 adults in the US suffers from the condition.

Mr Koran emphasised that this type of shopping and buying is not the same as occasional impulse buying, which many people engage in.

"Compulsive buying leads to serious psychological, financial and family problems including depression, overwhelming debt and the breakup of relationships," he said.

"People don't realise the extent of damage it does to the sufferer."

Previous research showed that compulsive buying disorder affected between 2 and 16 per cent of the US population, and that 90 per cent of sufferers were women.

For the current study, the researchers surveyed more than 2,500 adults.

They asked respondents about buying attitudes and behaviours, and their financial and demographic data.

The team used a screening instrument, the Compulsive Buying Scale, to determine whether respondents were compulsive buyers.

The researchers found that 6 per cent of women and 5.5 per cent of men had symptoms consistent with compulsive buying disorder.

Koran said the fact that men and women have similar rates of compulsive shopping tendencies was surprising.

"The difference that we observed between the prevalence in women and men is quite small and contrasts with the marked difference reported in clinical trials, in which women constituted 80 to 95 per cent of the participants," Koran said.

The study also revealed that compulsive buyers were more likely to be younger and earn below $50,000.

In addition, more of their credit cards were within a few hundred dollars of the credit limit, and compulsive buyers were more than four times as likely as other respondents to make only the minimum payment on credit card balances.

The study will be published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.