The effect of the lunar cycle on frequency of births and birth complications

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the lunar cycle on the frequency of deliveries and/or delivery complications. This was a retrospective cohort, secondary analysis of 564,039 births across 62 lunar cycles that were identified from North Carolina birth certificate data from 19...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 2005-05, Vol.192 (5), p.1462-1464
Main Authors: Arliss, Jill M., Kaplan, Erin N., Galvin, Shelley L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of Variance
Birth
Birth Rate
Cohort Studies
Delivery complication
Female
Humans
Incidence
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature
Lunar cycle
Moon
North Carolina - epidemiology
Obstetric Labor Complications - epidemiology
Pregnancy
Pregnancy, Multiple
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the lunar cycle on the frequency of deliveries and/or delivery complications. This was a retrospective cohort, secondary analysis of 564,039 births across 62 lunar cycles that were identified from North Carolina birth certificate data from 1997 to 2001. Using analysis of variance and t-tests, we found no significant differences in the frequency of births, route of delivery, births to multigravid women, or birth complications across the 8 phases of the moon or between documented high- and low-volume intervals of the lunar cycle. An analysis of 5 years of data demonstrated no predictable influence of the lunar cycle on deliveries or complications. As expected, this pervasive myth is not evidence based.
ISSN:0002-9378
1097-6868
DOI:10.1016/j.ajog.2004.12.034