The researchers determined that 55 diseases are partially
linked to an individual's season of birth; overall, they found that
people born in May had the lowest disease risk and those born in
October the highest, the university said in a statement.
"This data could help scientists uncover new disease risk
factors," noted senior author Nicholas Tatonetti, an assistant professor
of biomedical informatics at Columbia University Medical Center.
But "it's important not to get overly nervous about these
results because even though we found significant associations ... the
risk related to birth month is relatively minor when compared to more
influential variables like diet and exercise," the scientist cautioned.
According to the study, people born in March have the
highest risk of heart disease, while those born in September and October
show a propensity of respiratory ailments. Early winter babies,
meanwhile, have a likelihood of developing reproductive and neurological
diseases, USA Today detailed.
The Columbia University team pointed out that the new data
are consistent with previous research, with scientists mentioning an
earlier Danish study found that the peak risk for asthma there was in
the months (May and August) when Denmark's sunlight levels are similar
to New York's (July and October).
In fact, the study authors recalled in the Journal of
American Medical Informatics Association that speculation on the subject
goes back all the way to Antiquity, WGN noted.
"Hippocrates described a connection between seasonality and
disease nearly 2500 years ago, 'for knowing the changes of the
seasons ... how each of them takes place, he (the clinician) will be
able to know beforehand what sort of a year is going to ensue ... for
with the seasons the digestive organs of men undergo a change," they
wrote.
Overall, the research ruled out more than 1,600
associations and confirmed 39 seasonal links previously reported in the
medical literature; it also uncovered 16 new associations.
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