posted August 26, 2004 06:39 PM
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Patterns found that tie birth month to diseases?
Adults born in January, February had highest risk of brain cancer.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20): Governed by Neptune and symbolized by the fish. Compassionate, introspective, artistic. Often dreamy and impractical. May be prone to schizophrenia, epilepsy or bipolar disorder.
It may sound like some kind of new madcap astrology, but a number of scientists are becoming convinced that our birth month may predispose us to particular diseases later in life.
Studies have shown that schizophrenia is more common among those born in late winter or early spring. Multiple sclerosis is associated with births in April, May and June. And epilepsy occurs more frequently in those with birthdays from December to March.
The findings may seem whimsical or - depending on which month you eat cake and unwrap presents - alarming. But researchers hope the emerging patterns will offer clues into the origins of a range of illnesses that, despite advances in treatment, have no known cause.
"It makes you think differently about disease," said Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, who has studied the association between birth month and narcolepsy.
"Most people tend to think that disease is really something that is determined by your genes or what happens just before the disease occurs," he said. "Maybe there are a number of things that can happen well before."
In the latest study, published in the current edition of the journal Neurology, scientists at the National Cancer Institute found that adults born in January and February had the highest risk of brain cancer. The paper's lead author, NCI epidemiologist Alina V. Brenner, is the first to offer a caveat: The findings could be the result of chance.
But separate studies in Britain and Norway have identified a similar correlation between birth season and risk of brain tumors in children, with a statistical "excess" of births in winter and a "deficit" in summer.
If the association turns out to be real, Brenner said, it suggests that exposures early in a child's development - at any point from conception to the first few months after birth - could have a hand in the genesis of the disease. Though it's not clear what those exposures are, they could include viruses, environmental toxins or even something as seemingly benign as the weather.
Seasonal birth patterns have been most firmly established in schizophrenia patients. Several years ago, a group of Danish researchers reported that the risk of developing the disorder was highest among those born in February and March and lowest among those with birthdays in August and September.
The leading explanation implicates a seasonal infection that could be disturbing the child's normal brain development, which may help explain why other central nervous system disorders are also more common in those with winter births.
By Erika Niedowski / Baltimore Sun
Sleep Study
A study last year linking birth month with the sleep disorder narcolepsy found:
The number of narcoleptics born in March (11.9 percent) exceeded the number in the general population (8.5 percent).
A significant drop in the number of narcoleptics born in September (5.6 percent) compared with the number normally expected (8.7 percent).
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http://www.detnews.com/2004/health/0408/22/a09-249639.htm
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If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. ~James Herriot