The age-old myth that hospital visits increase during the full moon may have some truth, according to new data.
New research from hospital safety company Canopy revealed that hospital panic buttons were used 9% more often during full moon days than in all other days within the past two years.
The company’s CEO, Shan Sinha, shared to Axios that the finding was “very strange” and was surprised by the connection. “I was like: That’s ridiculous. There’s no way.”
Are these findings consistent with other studies?
Portsmouth Regional Hospital examined this dilemma and found conflicting evidence for both sides. A 2011 study published by the National Institutes of Health sampled 5,400 patients and found a slight increase of psychiatric emergency room visits during full moon days.
However, there was a “stronger correlation” attributed to beginning and end moon cycles, finding more cases of “severe illness and aggressive behaviors” between these lunar times, per Portsmouth.
Going against the recent finding, another 2011 study published by NIH found no link between ER visits and full moon days — despite 40% of medical professionals believing the phenomenon to be true.
In the study, the authors state: “Scientific analysis of our data does not support the belief that moon phases, zodiac signs, or Friday the 13th influence surgical blood loss and emergency frequency,” per Portsmouth.
In addition, a 2004 study published by NIH sampled over 54,000 trauma patients in Tehran, Iran, and found there to be no increase of patient visits during full moon days.
What the reported findings really tell us
While the fear of increased hospital visits on full moon days might be a myth, what’s more concerning are the violent incidents that health care employees face in their workplace.
Axios reported that clinics and hospitals are among the most dangerous workplaces in the U.S., having been worsened from the COVID-19 pandemic over related stressors like “public health measures.”
In its research, Canopy found an 8% increase of security incidents during COVID-19 surges — and Sinha claimed that overall incidence rates are still elevated, per Axios.
A 2022 study published by NIH revealed that 77% of studied health care workers experienced violence at their workplace in 2021, as opposed to a reported 69% in 2019.
The full moon still may have an effect
Despite limited findings on full moon days increasing hospital visits, it’s not to say that there haven’t been interesting findings in other hospital-related areas.
A 2018 study published by ScienceDirect found that there was an increase in ambulance transportation for road crashes when there was a full moon.
Published by Wiley, a 2004 study found that visits related to gastrointestinal bleeding increased on full moon days.
Finally, a 2019 study published by Taylor & Francis found that admissions of schizophrenia patients did increase most during first-quarter lunar phases, but a full moon was accounted as having some influence.