Postponement of death until symbolically meaningful occasions.
نویسندگان
چکیده
This study shows that mortality dips before a symbolically meaningful occasion and peaks just afterward. Mortality among Chinese (n = 1288) dips by 35.1% in the week before the Harvest Moon Festival and peaks by the same amount (34.6%) in the week after. We chose to study mortality among Chinese and a Chinese holiday for two reasons. First, the holiday moves around the calendar, thus allowing separation of the effects of the holiday from fixed, monthly mortality effects. Second, the holiday appeals strongly to one (experimental) group and not to others (which can be used as control groups). In terms of percentage, cerebrovascular diseases displayed the largest dip/peak pattern, followed by diseases of the heart, and then malignant neoplasms. The dip/peak mortality pattern does not appear in various non-Chinese control groups. The statistical significance of the findings was demonstrated with linear and curvilinear regression analysis and with two nonparametric tests. After testing alternative explanations for the findings, we concluded that the dip/peak pattern occurs because death can be briefly postponed until after the occurrence of a significant occasion.
منابع مشابه
Deaths and major biographical events: a study of all cancer deaths in Germany from 1995 to 2009
OBJECTIVE To determine if people dying from cancer are able to prolong their own life in order to experience a certain biographical event, or whether the appearance of such an occasion leads to increased deaths before the event. METHODS We compared numbers of cancer deaths during a period of 1 week before and after biographically important occasions, which were birthday, Christmas and Easter....
متن کاملThe birthday: lifeline or deadline?
This study of deaths from natural causes examined adult mortality around the birthday for two samples, totalling 2,745,149 people. Women are more likely to die in the week following their birthdays than in any other week of the year. In addition, the frequency of female deaths dips below normal just before the birthday. The results do not seem to be due to seasonal fluctuations, misreporting on...
متن کاملManufacturing and Form Postponement
Postponement is a growing trend in manufacturing. It can lead to superior supply chains. Form postponement (FP) involves the delay of final manufacturing until a customer order is received and is commonly regarded as an approach to mass customisation. Mass customisation is a trend towards the production and distribution of individually customised goods and services for a mass market. It is prov...
متن کاملCase Study on the Application of Postponement Strategy and Managerial Insights
Postponement is an organizational concept whereby some of the activities in the supply chain are not performed until customer order is received. Postponement is increasingly drawing the attention of company, which not only allows company to maintain cost effectiveness and economies of scale but also increases the flexibility of the operating system and the timeliness of delivery. In China, comp...
متن کاملThe effect of statins on average survival in randomised trials, an analysis of end point postponement
OBJECTIVE To estimate the average postponement of death in statin trials. SETTING A systematic literature review of all statin trials that presented all-cause survival curves for treated and untreated. INTERVENTION Statin treatment compared to placebo. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES The average postponement of death as represented by the area between the survival curves. RESULTS 6 studies for...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- JAMA
دوره 263 14 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 1990