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There are days ... and moons; Self‐poisoning is not lunacy
Author(s) -
Buckley Nicholas A,
Whyte Ian M,
Dawson Andrew H
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1993.tb141350.x
Subject(s) - medicine
Objective To determine whether there are significant circadian, weekly or lunar variations in self‐poisoning presentations and whether patients' names or dates of birth have an influence on the likelihood of self‐poisoning by analysing biorhythms, numerology and star sign. Setting Hunter Valley, Australia. Subjects Consecutive adult patients admitted with self‐poisoning between January 1987 and June 1993. Results There were 2215 patients admitted. There was a marked circadian variation. Over 6% of all admissions occurred in each of the hours between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. compared with less than 2% per hour between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. This pattern was not different for patients with a diagnosis of depression. Numerology, biorhythms and star signs had no significant correlations with self‐poisoning, nor was there a significant weekly or yearly variation in presentations. There was a small but statistically significant sex difference in presentations analysed by lunar phases. At the new moon 60% of self‐poisonings were in women, compared with 45% when the moon was full. The odds ratios (OR) for women to be admitted at full moon and at new moon were 1.27 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92‐1.66; P value not significant) and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.57‐0.92; P = 0.009) respectively. The mean illumination of the moon at the time of overdose was 50.63% ± 0.91% for men, compared with 47.45% ± 0.85% for women ( P = 0.014). Conclusion The circadian cycle (but not weekly, yearly or mystical cycles) should be taken into account when determining staffing levels for poison information and casualty services. The full moon is protective for women. (Med J Aust 1993; 159: 786‐789)