Christmas the deadliest day of the year: study

[meegbear]

A new U.S. analysis of mortality rates during different times of year found that people are more likely to die during the holidays — notably on Christmas and New Year’s Day — and researchers cannot explain the yearly spike.

After analyzing all official United States death certificates over the 25-year period between 1979 and 2004, a trio of sociologists identified an excess of 42,325 natural deaths — that is, above and beyond the normal seasonal winter increase — in the two weeks starting with Christmas.

In the article in the journal Social Science & Medicine, researchers David Phillips, Gwendolyn Barker and Kimberly Brewer report that mortality in general rises during the Christmas season.

Deaths in a hospital setting increase tremendously on the holidays themselves.

More people die in hospital emergency wards, or arrive dead on arrival, on Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day than on any other days of the year.

"It's not trivial," said Mr. Phillips, a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego. "We looked at all cause categories and, for nearly every one, we found an excess of deaths — particularly for people who are dying rapidly, like dead-on-arrival or dying in the emergency department."

In general, Mr. Phillips said the team’s analysis of some 57.5-million death certificates shows the chance of dying during this holiday period increases "somewhere between 3% and 9%, depending on the demographic group you’re looking at, and somewhere between 1% and 10%, depending on what cause of death you’re looking at."

Less clear are the reasons behind this fatal phenomenon.

<snip>

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/12/20/christmas-the-deadliest-day-of-the-year-study/#ixzz18kxndpkc

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :hi:

[rurallib]

1. on the other hand, lots of babies are made during the holidays

maybe it is some sort of cosmic trade off.

[FSogol]

2. Remember, defrost your turkey before dumping it into the deep fryer.

:shrug:

[progressoid]

3. "More people die in hospital emergency wards, or arrive dead on arrival"

Perhaps understaffed and/or overworked ER services during the holidays?

[Mojorabbit]

4. I don't think so

It has been decades since I worked as a nurse but we saw this every year. Even for repeat patients it was so. More deaths on the holidays. Maybe it has to do with the decreasing amt of sunlight. I don't know.