The incidence of crimes reported to three police stations in different towns (one rural, one urban, one industrial) was studied to see if it varied with the day of the lunar cycle. The period of the study covered 1978-82. The incidence of crimes committed on full moon days was much higher than on all other days, new moon days, and seventh days after the full moon and new moon. A small peak in the incidence of crimes was observed on new moon days, but this was not significant when compared with crimes committed on other days. The incidence of crimes on equinox and solstice days did not differ significantly from those on other days, suggesting that the sun probably does not influence the incidence of crime. The increased incidence of crimes on full moon days may be due to "human tidal waves" caused by the gravitational pull of the moon.

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 <0.001)

CONCLUSIONS: The full moon is associated with a significant increase in animal bites to humans.

Data on five aggressive and/or violent human behaviors were examined by computer to determine whether a relationship exists between the lunar syndoic cycle and human aggression. Homicides, suicides, fatal traffic accidents, aggravated assaults and psychiatric emergency room visits occurring in Dade County, Florida all show lunar periodicities. Homicides and aggravated assaults demonstrate statistically significant clustering of cases around full moon. Psychiatric emergency room visits cluster around first quarter and shows a significantly decreased frequency around new and full moon. The suicide curve shows correlations with both aggravated assaults and fatal traffic accidents, suggesting a self-destructive component for each of these behaviors. The existence of a biological rhythm of human aggression which resonates with the lunar synodic cycle is postulated.

Neurology. 2006 May 9;66(9):1442-3.

Lunar phases and seizure occurrence: just an ancient legend?

Polychronopoulos P, Argyriou AA, Sirrou V, Huliara V, Aplada M, Gourzis P, Economou A, Terzis E, Chroni E.

Department of Neurology, University of Patras Medical School, Rion-Patras, Greece. ppolychr@yahoo.gr

The authors retrospectively reviewed all neurologic records of an emergency unit from 1999 to 2003 to identify a potential association between lunar phases and seizure occurrence. Overall 859 patients admitted for seizure occurrence were divided into the four quarters of the synodic month according to moon phases. A significant clustering of seizures around the full moon period was observed, supporting the ancient belief of periodic increased seizure frequency during full-moon days.

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 1986;65(1):45-8.

The regulation of menstrual cycle and its relationship to the moon.

Law SP.

A synchronous relationship between the menstrual cycle and lunar rhythm was confirmed by: Investigative data: Among the 826 female volunteers with a normal menstrual cycle, aged between 16 and 25 years, a large proportion of menstruations occurred around the new moon (28.3%), while at other times during the lunar month the proportion of menstruations occurring ranged between 8.5-12.6%; the difference was significant (p less than 0.01). Laboratory findings: The 6-hydroxymelatonin levels in the urina sanguinis of 3 female volunteers reached their zenith prior to and during menstruation, gradually declining to their nadir during ovulation. The difference in 6-hydroxymelatonin between menstruation and ovulation was significant (p less than 0.01). Two of these three volunteers had their zenith in the period of the new moon and nadir 3-4 days prior to the full moon respectively. Clinical experience: The lunar-menses-regulatory therapy in treatment of Nephropenic secondary amenorrhea revealed 4 clinical cure, 5 marked effect, 8 menogogue and 3 ineffect out of 20 cases.

PIP: A synchronous relationship between the menstrual cycle and lunar rhythm was confirmed by investigative data, laboratory findings, and clinical experience. Among the 826 female volunteers with a normal menstrual cycle (ages 16-25), a large proportion of menstruations occurred around the new moon (28.3%), while at other times during the lunar month, the proportion of menstruations occurring ranged between 8.5-12.6%; the difference was significant (P0.01). The 6-hydroxymelatonin levels in the urina sanguinis of 3 female volunteers reached their zenith prior to and during menstruation, gradually declining to their nadir during ovulation. The difference in 6-hydroxymelatonin between menstruation and ovulation was significant (P0.01). 2 of these 3 volunteers had their zenith in the period of the new moon and nadir 3-4 days prior to the full moon respectively. The lunar-menses-regulatory therapy in treatment of Nephropenic secondary amenorrhea revealed 4 clinical cures, 5 marked effects, 8 menogogue, and 3 ineffective out of 20 cases. author's modified

J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 1983 Jul;20(5):487-95.

Lunar cycle and poison center calls.

Oderda GM, Klein-Schwartz W.

An analysis of calls to the Maryland Poison Center was performed to assess whether a relationship exists between the moon periods and poison exposure calls. A given period was defined as the day of the lunar event +/- 2 days. Thirteen lunar cycles in which 22,079 calls occurred were analyzed. A larger proportion of total calls to the center and unintentional poisoning calls occurred during the full moon period.

A significantly larger number of unintentional poisonings occurred in the full moon period compared to suicide attempts and drug abuse which occurred most frequently during the new moon period. The lunar cycle had no effect on the distribution of victim's age or sex or the location of treatment.

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. georg.zettinig@univie.ac.at

INTRODUCTION: Several variables of health-related human behaviour have been analysed with regard to a possible association with lunar phases. The aim of this study was to evaluate a possible relation between the lunar cycle and the number of requests for appointments at an outpatient clinic. This variable has not been studied hitherto. METHODS: We analysed a total number of 11,413 requests for appointments at our thyroid outpatient clinic during one year. Access to this clinic is not restricted, and all patients with known or suspected thyroid disease living in the area of Vienna may ask for an appointment. During the study period, 8,852 patients requested a follow-up appointment, and 2561 patients asked for a new appointment. We analysed a possible cyclic pattern in these requests using a nonlinear regression model based on both groups of patients. RESULTS: A cosinus curve with a period of 29.531 days (the mean length of a lunar cycle) was significantly associated with the number of requests for both follow-up appointments (p = 0.007) and new appointments (p = 0.001). Requests for follow-up appointments had their highest peaks three days after the full moon, whereas requests for new appointments were most frequent five days afterwards.

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that lunar phases may affect patients' requests for appointments at a thyroid outpatient clinic. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting a possible association between health-related behaviour and lunar phases using requests for appointments as a relevant variable. There is a need for more research into the mechanism underpinning this behaviour.

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. georg.zettinig@univie.ac.at

[Incidence of lunar position in the distribution of deliveries. A statistical analysis]

OBJECTIVE: To point out the influence of the lunar position on the distribution of deliveries. METHODS: We examined all the full-term spontaneous deliveries that occurred at the Civil Hospital in Fano (March) throughout 24 synodic months in a 2-year period (1993-1994). In order to perform the statistical analysis, each delivery was considered as a single measure. We used techniques of circular statistics to execute data analysis. RESULTS: A significant relationship between lunar position and distribution of deliveries was pointed out in multigravidae (in detail, the deliveries resulted clustered around the full moon phase). On the contrary, no significant relation was observed in primigravidae.

CONCLUSIONS: The observed results evidence a significant influence of the position of the moon on the distribution of deliveries, especially in multigravidae.

Effect of the full moon on a sample of developmentally delayed, institutionalized women.

Over 19 lunar months reports of all aggressive acting-out misbehaviors as recorded by direct-care staff were evaluated and recorded on a day-by-day basis for a randomly selected sample of 20 developmentally delayed women, CA 18 to 50; MA, 9 to 18 months. All had been in continuous residence in a residential treatment center for a minimum of 31 months. A grid representing the 24-hr. period of the full moon (a), the three days prior to the day of the full moon (b), the three days after the full moon (c), and the balance of the lunar period (d) was placed over the record. Comparisons using the Duncan multiple-range test indicated that the mean number of misbehaviors on the day of the full moon was significantly higher than the mean number on any other day of the lunar period (the next highest was for the three days prior to the day of the full moon).

Centre for Research in Primary Care, Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds, 71-75 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9PL, UK.

BACKGROUND: The effect of the full moon on human behaviour, the so-called 'Transylvania hypothesis', has fascinated the public and occupied the mind of researchers for centuries. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine whether or not there was any change in general practice consultation patterns around the time of the full moon. METHOD: We analysed data from the fourth national morbidity study of general practice. The data set was split into two groups and analysed separately: consultations on ordinary weekdays and consultations on weekends and bank holidays. The data were split randomly into two equal sets, one for model building and one for model validation. The lunar cycle effect was assumed to be sinusoidal, on the grounds that any effect would be maximal at the time of the full moon and decline to the new moon, following a cosine curve (with a period of 29.54 days, the mean length of a lunar cycle). RESULTS: There was a statistically significant, but small, effect associated with the lunar cycle of 1.8% of the mean value [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9-2.7%]. This equates to an average difference between the two extremes during the cycle of 3.6%. For this data set, this accounts for 190 (95% CI 95-285) more consultations on days at the peak of the cycle compared with those at the bottom of the cycle, or, put another way, about three consultations per practice.

CONCLUSION: We can speculate neither as to what the nature of these moon-related problems may be, nor as to the mechanisms underpinning such behaviour. However, we have confirmed that it does not seem to be related to anxiety and depression.

Suicides in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for 1972--1975 are tabulated by year, month of year, day of week, lunar phase, and holiday occurrence. Only lunar phase demonstrates a significant (p less than .01) variation in suicide rate; an increase is observed in this sample with respect to new moon phase but not for full moon phase. Explanations for this finding are considered, but the precise reasons remain unknown.

A novel trigger for acute coronary syndromes: the effect of lunar cycles on the incidence and in-hospital prognosis of acute coronary syndromes--a 3-year retrospective study.

Circadian variations in the incidence of hypertension and coronary events are well known with early morning surges. Effect of lunar cycles on various medical illnesses like seizures and psychiatric disturbances are documented. However, the effect of lunar cycles on coronary events has been sparsely documented. The authors studied the incidence of acute coronary events and admission patterns in the departments of emergency medicine and cardiology. Inclusion criteria included unstable angina, non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI) and ST elevation MI. Exclusion criteria included chest pain syndromes which were subsequently deemed non-cardiac by invasive or non-invasive investigations. Data from 1999 to 2001 were analysed. Admissions on full moon days were compared with those on new moon days. There were 30 full moon days and 30 new moon days and 223 admissions on full moon days and 266 on new moon days. This difference was statistically significant [p = .005]. Sixty-seven per cent were males and the rest were females. Subgroup analysis of mortality, postinfarction angina, effect on diabetics and hypertensives were done which showed an increased trend in new moon days.

It is concluded that there is increased incidence of acute coronary events associated with new moon days.

Statistically high significant periodicity (in the range of 2.3 to 4.2 days) in the cardiovascular mortality has been proved. This is connected with the alternation of lunar phases in the course of the synodic moon. The explanation as some endogene rhythms was excluded. To determine the origin of these short periodical changes will be a subject of further investigations.

Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava, Slovakia. mikuleky@upkm.sanet.sk

The most popular periodicities in biology and medicine-the circadians and circannuals-stem undoubtedly from the Earth's rotation and its revolution around the sun. The problem is how to explain the existence of circaseptan, i.e. 5-9-day, and other infradian rhythms. They may correspond to the lunar cycles and their 2nd to 6th harmonics. To test such hypothesis, the calendar dates of 127 attacks of atrial fibrillation in one male subject (M.M.) between 1980 and 1994 were transformed into the days numbered 0-29 for the synodic, and 0-26 for tropic lunar cycle. The daily frequencies obtained in this way were smoothed by moving averages of three successive days each. Considerable fluctuations of frequencies of attacks during both cycles were visible by inspection of the corresponding graphs, called lunar plexograms. Thus, a conspicuous nadir is found under the full moon in the synodic cycle, and a marked peak shortly after the extreme southern position of the moon in the tropic cycle. Halberg's cosinor analysis testing the presence of the 1st to 6th harmonic of either lunar cycle rejected the null hypothesis at the alpha = 0.05 level for all harmonics. Accordingly, the occurrence of attacks was cycling with the period lengths of synodic and tropic lunar cycles, and with those of their 1/2-1/6 period lengths, i.e. with a cluster of approximately circa(di)-septan rhythms. This conclusion is supported by similar findings obtained earlier for various medical and biological events.

A chronobiometric analysis of 753 cases of acute infectious diarrhoea in adults in 1981-1990 in Kosice confirmed to a surprising extent recently reached conclusions of an investigation made by authors from Bratislava. The Kosice group comprised 352 cases of bacillary dysentery, 305 patients with salmonellosis, 72 with campylobacteriosis and 24 with yersiniosis. Statistically significantly fewer patients (p < 0.0001) were hospitalized during full moon, moon quarterly and new moon. In the intervals there were periods with a short-term increase of the daily admissions by cca 25%. This 7.38-day periodicity cannot be explained by the influence of the social 7-day week, as during observations extending over several years this rhythm is eliminated by a gradual shift across different phases of the moon. The authors did not find similar reports in the literature. For explanation, not only the organism of the host (variable immunity?) but also the infectious agent must be taken into account. More profound understanding of the mechanism may open the road to practical application of the described lunar relationship. Its knowledge can help already now to improve the organization of the health service.

Department of Physiology, Guru Nanak Institute of Dental Science and Research, Calcutta, India.

Effects of full moon and no moon on the birth of male and female offsprings were studied in Indian Couples of the age group 20 to 40 years. It was observed that 42 wives who were conceived within 24 hours of ovulation at full moon gave birth of 40 male and 2 female babies. On the other hand 40 women conceived on the day of ovulation 3 days prior to full moon gave birth of 13 male and 27 female babies. But only 5 women conceived on no moon, all of them gave birth of female babies. It was also observed that vaginal pH of the ovulated women during full moon was alkaline (pH 8.7 +/- 0.4) while pH was weak acidic in women ovulated 3 days prior to full moon and no moon (pH 6.4 +/- 0.5; 6.2 +/- 0.5). The basal body temperature (BBT) was increased 0.7 degrees F to 1.3 degrees F during the ovulation period when compared with women during the absence of ovulation. But there is an increase in temperature 0.5 degrees F more in women ovulated in full moon than no moon. Together, these results indicate that alkaline vaginal fluid medium and more rise of BBT during full moon favour conception of male [corrected] babies. This method gives the couple more chance of having male child if conception occurs in the day of ovulation in full moon and having female child if conception occurs in no moon.

Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava, Slovakia. mikuleky@upkm.sk

The aim was to search for periodical fluctuations in daily occurrence of gout attacks during the synodic lunar cycle. 126 gout attacks were recorded between 1972 and 1994 at known calendar dates. The synodic plexogram, displaying the number of attacks for each day of the cycle, was processed by cosinor regression. A pronounced cycling was found, with highest peaks under the new and full moon (syzygigies). Thus, the maximal occurrence of attacks coincides with the peaking lunisolar tidal effect. Similar relation of attacks to synodic moon was seen in bronchial asthma of children, and a reciprocal one in paroxysmal tachyarrhythmia. Differing pathogenetic backgrounds of these diseases substantiate the observed differences in their putative reactions on the changing cosmogeophysical environment.

Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center, Zaloska c.7, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. miha.sok@mf.uni-lj.si

The relation between spontaneous pneumothorax events and synodic lunar cycle was studied in a retrospective analysis of patients with a first or recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax. The study included a total of 244 patients, 203 males and 41 females. The data were arranged along the first (new moon) to 28th day (one day before another new moon) of the synodic lunar cycle. Periodogram analysis revealed a 14-day rhythm, significant for the male and pooled sample. Cosinor analysis found the whole synodic lunar cycle and its 2nd, 4th and 5th harmonics as significant. Maximal accumulation of cases happened 1 week before and 1 week after the new moon. Mechanisms of a putative moon influence are not clear. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.