Does when you were born affect your risk for different diseases? This may seem like a question for an astrologer but the topic was actually tackled by a team of scientists.
Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center in the United States studied more than 1.7 million Americans' medical records from 1985 to 2013. A computational algorithm was devised looking for associations between birth months and 1688 health conditions.
Nicholas Tatonetti, a scientist at Columbia University Medical Center, researched people's birth months looking for evidence that when they were born affects their risk for disease.
He would rather call what he studies seasonality, instead of birth month which smacks of astrology. Seasonality involves environmental variables that are in place when you are born.
The research confirms previous study results involving disease and birth season, particularly where environmental factors like dust mite exposure, pollen count and temperature change are concerned.
Tatonetti and his team found that 55 out of 1,688 possible health conditions seemed to have a link to birth month. A high number of heart-related illnesses were noted among these — several had the same levels of lifetime risk for people who had been born in late winter and in early spring.
The research results are set up for those in the Northern Hemisphere. People in the Southern Hemisphere should reverse the results.
Some months were linked to particular disease risks more than others.
In the Northern Hemisphere, May was found to be the healthiest month to be born. October, with November as a close second, were seen to hold the most risk for disease. September is linked to higher asthma risk. November is linked to higher ADHD risk. March is linked to higher risk for some heart conditions.
"Lifetime disease risk is affected by birth month. Seasonally dependent early developmental mechanisms may play a role in increasing lifetime risk of disease." according to an article on PubMed.gov, of the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
Tatonetti puts all this in context by remonstrating that birth month effects are fairly minor next to diet and exercise which are more important factors. His most recent research was published on 3 June 2015 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
To learn more about the correlation between birth month and disease incidence click here and here.
Sources:
See What Diseases You’re at Risk For Based on Your Birth Month. Time.com. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
http://time.com/3913118/birth-month-disease-risk
The month you're born may affect your disease risk, research suggests. Sciencealert.com. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
http://www.sciencealert.com/the-month-you-re-born-may-affect-your-risk-o...
Birth Month Affects Lifetime Disease Risk: A Phenome-Wide Method. NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26041386
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Reviewed June 29, 2015
by Michele Blacksberg RN