Many veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come home with new drinking problems, according to a new report in JAMA.

A team at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego studied about 50,000 Reserve, National Guard and active duty service members for three years each from 2001 to 2006.

About 5,500 went into combat, 5,600 were deployed in war zones but did not fight, and 37,000 did not deploy.

Those in the Reserves or National Guard with combat experience were most likely to report new heavy weekly drinking; it affected 8.8 percent of the people. The rate for new binge drinkers was 25.6 percent.

The rates for active duty members who saw fighting was 6 percent and 26.6 percent, respectively.

"These results are the first to prospectively quantify changes in alcohol use in relation to recent combat deployments. Interventions should focus on at-risk groups, including Reserve/Guard personnel, younger individuals and those with previous or existing mental health disorders," the authors wrote.