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. 2005 May;192(5):1462-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2004.12.034.

The effect of the lunar cycle on frequency of births and birth complications

Jill M Arliss  1 , Erin N Kaplan, Shelley L Galvin
Affiliations

The effect of the lunar cycle on frequency of births and birth complications

Jill M Arliss et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005 May.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the lunar cycle on the frequency of deliveries and/or delivery complications.

Study design: This was a retrospective cohort, secondary analysis of 564,039 births across 62 lunar cycles that were identified from North Carolina birth certificate data from 1997 to 2001.

Results: Using analysis of variance and t-tests, we found no significant differences in the frequency of births, route of delivery, births to multigravid women, or birth complications across the 8 phases of the moon or between documented high- and low-volume intervals of the lunar cycle.

Conclusion: An analysis of 5 years of data demonstrated no predictable influence of the lunar cycle on deliveries or complications. As expected, this pervasive myth is not evidence based.

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