Heart Failure
A man, whose surname is He, cuddles the body of his dead wife during a sub-zero evening in Shenyang, Liaoning province December 17, 2014. The man sat by the roadside while holding his wife's body for almost two hours till his son came and persuaded him to bring the body home, according to local media. The wife had just bought medicine from a pharmacy when she collapsed in a street and died of heart failure. Picture taken December 17. Reuters

Many people dismiss horoscopes as just for fun, with the daily predictions often not happening in real life. It’s hard to believe that being born in a certain month would predict the outcome of a person’s love life or career.

However, a new study by Columbia University researchers discovered that when it comes to certain ailments, there is a correlation between the month of birth and specific diseases, reports CNET. The research says October-born people have the highest risk for certain ailments, while those born in May have the healthiest results.

The research was based on case histories and records of over 17 million patients at the New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center born during the last thousand years. The scientists searched for a connection between the birth month and 1,688 diseases.

They used a new computational algorithm that they developed for the research. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, would be expanded beyond New York City to check if geographic location and season also affect the health with a person’s birth month.

The correlation was highest between ADHD and asthma and some months, based on 39 previous discoveries by similar studies. Meanwhile, there are 19 new correlations, including nine types of heart ailments for people born in March. The cardio diseases include high rates of atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure and mitral valve disorder.

Previous studies found the children born in fall have a 30 percent higher risk of acquiring asthma because homes tend to have dust mites during that season, says a 2008 study by the Center for Asthma Research and Environmental Health at Vanderbilt University. Another 2012 study discovered a link between ADHD and kids born in the last months of the year.

Significantly, those born from September through April have higher risks for specific ailments, while those born in the four-month period of May through August have no specific diseases linked to their birth months. The diseases and their birth month connections are Asthma (September), ADHD (October), viral infection (November), acute bronchiolitis (December), hypertension (January), atrial fibrillation (February), atherosclerosis (March) and angina or chest pain (April).

However, Columbia U assistant professor of biomedical informatics Nicholas Tatonetti, also a co-author of the research, assuages people, saying, “It’s important not to get overly nervous about these results because even though we found significant associations, the overall disease risk is not that great.”

He stressed, “The risk related to birth month is relatively minor when compared to more influential variables like diet and exercise.” Mary Regina Boland, the lead author and a Columbia graduate student, said that the research team is working to help physicians solve vital clinical problems using the new wealth of data that their study provides. The pace is discoveries is accelerated by faster computers and electronic health records, reports Columbia U.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com

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