Rescue responses during a full moon and Friday 13th

Is Friday the 13th bad for your health?

OBJECTIVE To examine the relation between health, behaviour, and superstition surrounding Friday 13th in the United Kingdom. DESIGN Retrospective study of paired data comparing driving and shopping patterns and accidents. SUBJECTS Drivers, shoppers, and residents. SETTING South West Thames region. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Numbers of vehicles on motorways; numbers of shoppers in supermarket...

The Moon Is Full

Full Moon and Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Findings:Román, Soriano, Fuentes, Gálvez, and Fernández (2004) suggested that the number of hospital admissions related to gastrointestinal bleeding was somehow influenced by the phases of the Earth’s moon. Specifically, the authors claimed that the rate of hospital admissions to their bleeding unit is higher during the full moon than at other times. Their report contains a number of methodolog...

Females don't have more injury road accidents on Friday the 13th

Females do not have more injury road accidents on Friday the 13th

BACKGROUND This study reinvestigated the recent finding that females - but not males - die in traffic accidents on Friday the 13th more often than on other Fridays (Näyhä S: Traffic deaths and superstition on Friday the 13th. Am J Psychiatry 2002, 159: 2110-2111). The current study used matched setting and injury accident data base that is more numerous than fatality data. If such an effect wou...