The Astrological Influence on the Incidence of Hospital Admission and Length of Stay in Surgical Unit of a Regional Hospital

Introduction: Though there is no scientific proof, some physicians and medical staff believe in association or influences of the zodiac signs on health. It was quite interesting to note that Kudva et al. from India found few definite attributable dental morphological traits and health to the specific sun signs and numerology. Salib from UK describes the distribution of suicide by hanging appeared significantly higher in those with a birth sign of Virgo and the lowest in Sagittarius and Scorpio. Aim: The aim of our study is to evaluate if there are any statistically significant document- ed frequencies of hospital admission emergency and elective for particular zodiac sign at all, and if they can be linked to astrological phenomena. Patients and Methods: Retrospective review of records of all the patients with hospital admission in a general surgical unit has been collected from July 2003 to June 2005. Demographic and clinical data were collected specifically Star signs and its relationship. Appropriate statistical analyses were performed. Results: In a period of 2 years, 1209 patients were admitted under one general surgeon of which 675 patients were male and 552 were female. Aries males and Cancer females had the most elective admissions while Libra females and Sagittarius males had minimum number of elective admissions. Aquarius male and Scorpio females had the most emergency admissions while Aquarius female and Scorpio male had the least emergency admissions. In elective setting, Pisces female and Aquarius male had minimum hospital length of stay (LOS) while both Cancer male and female had maximum LOS. In the emergency setting, both Cancer male and female had the minimum LOS while Pisces male and female had the maximum LOS. The incidence of acute appendicitis was the highest in Pisces at 19.39%. Conclusion: Our retrospective data analysis documented some significant influence on hospital admission and length of stay under the influence of the star signs. This study sample was only General Surgical patients which exclude the number of other surgical and medical specialties. To achieve a real sample we need data of all the patients coming to the hospital.