Do animals bite more during a full moon? Retrospective observational analysis

Abstract Objective: To test the hypothesis that the incidence of animal bites increases at the time of a full moon. Design: Retrospective observational analysis. Setting: Accident and emergency department at a general hospital in an English city. Subjects: 1621 consecutive patients, irrespective of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ 2000-12, Vol.321 (7276), p.1559-1561
Main Authors: Bhattacharjee, Chanchal, Bradley, Peter, Smith, Matt, Scally, Andrew J, Wilson, Bradley J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal bites
Animals
Bites and stings
Bites and Stings - epidemiology
Drug overdose
Earths Moon
England - epidemiology
Humans
Hypotheses
Incidence
Linear Models
Moon
Natural satellites
Retrospective Studies
Statistical analysis
Studies
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Abstract Objective: To test the hypothesis that the incidence of animal bites increases at the time of a full moon. Design: Retrospective observational analysis. Setting: Accident and emergency department at a general hospital in an English city. Subjects: 1621 consecutive patients, irrespective of age and sex. Main outcome measures: Number of patients who attended an accident and emergency department during 1997 to 1999 after being bitten by an animal. The number of bites in each day was compared with the lunar phase in each month. Results: The incidence of animal bites rose significantly at the time of a full moon. With the period of the full moon as the reference period, the incidence rate ratio of the bites for all other periods of the lunar cycle was significantly lower (P
ISSN:0959-8138
1468-5833
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.321.7276.1559