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. 2022 Nov 14;13(1):6906.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34704-9.

Daylight saving time affects European mortality patterns

Laurent Lévy  1 , Jean-Marie Robine  2   3 , Grégoire Rey  4 , Raúl Fernando Méndez Turrubiates  5 , Marcos Quijal-Zamorano  5   6 , Hicham Achebak  5 , Joan Ballester  5 , Xavier Rodó  5   7 , François R Herrmann  8   9
Affiliations

Daylight saving time affects European mortality patterns

Laurent Lévy et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Daylight saving time (DST) consists in a one-hour advancement of legal time in spring offset by a backward transition of the same magnitude in fall. It creates a minimal circadian misalignment that could disrupt sleep and homoeostasis in susceptible individuals and lead to an increased incidence of pathologies and accidents during the weeks immediately following both transitions. How this shift affects mortality dynamics on a large population scale remains, however, unknown. This study examines the impact of DST on all-cause mortality in 16 European countries for the period 1998-2012. It shows that mortality decreases in spring and increases in fall during the first two weeks following each DST transition. Moreover, the alignment of time data around DST transition dates revealed a septadian mortality pattern (lowest on Sundays, highest on Mondays) that persists all-year round, irrespective of seasonal variations, in men and women aged above 40.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Unadjusted average daily death rate/100,000 observed in 16 European countries (1998–2012).
Vertical dotted line: DST transition date. Blue curve: spring. Orange curve: fall. Grey dots: Sundays. Triangles: Mondays. a Spring and fall transition. b Spring transition with 3rd-degree polynomial regression envelop for Sundays (r2 = 0.991) and Monday (r2 = 0.992), the dotted lines correspond to a 7 weeks interpolation period. c Fall transition with 2nd-degree polynomial regression envelop for Sundays (r2 = 0.982) and Mondays (r2 = 0.983), the dotted lines correspond to the interpolation period.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Unadjusted average daily death rate by sex and age groups.
Unadjusted average daily death rate/100,000 observed between 1998 and 2012 in 16 European countries by sex (women (left); men (right)) and 10 years age groups 80+ (a, b), 70.0–79.9 (c, d), 60.0–69.9 (e, f), 50.0-59.9 (g, h), 40.0–49.9 (i, j), 30.0–39.9 (k, l), 20.0–29.9 (m, n), 10.0–19.9 (o, p), 0.0–09.9 (q, r). Vertical dotted line: DST transition date. Blue curve: spring. Orange curve: fall. Grey dots: Sundays. Triangles: Mondays.
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References

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