A new study by Rhode Island Hospital, in the US has suggested that patients who head into surgery during a full moon are more likely to spend less time recovering in hospital.
It has been suggested that the lunar phase has a certain impact on recovery.
“While there has been previous research on the seasonal impacts of cardiovascular disease, there has not been any data about the effect of the lunar cycles on cardiac cases, until now,” said Dr Frank Sellke, senior author of the study.
“We focused the study on patients having aortic dissection and found that the odds of dying following this procedure were greatly reduced during the waning full moon, and that length of stay was also reduced during the full moon.”
The study was carried out to take a closer look at the natural time variations of survival rates following a heart surgery while also looking at the length of time in hospital spent by a patient.
They looked at 210 heart surgery patients and kept a close eye on the lunar cycles during their research which was published in the Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery.
The study indicates that those who had an aortic dissection performed during the full moon phase had a noticeably shorter length of stay. This was 10 days for the full moon cycle instead of 14 days for the other moon phases.
But will it be possible to plan around moon cycles?
“Of course not,” says Sellke.
“But better understanding the effects of the environment – including seasonal and lunar cycles – on our health can help us to better understand these rhythms, and ultimately provide better care for our patients.”
However not everyone was as convinced with the research.
Dr Rob Grenfell, the Heart Foundation’s national director of cardiovascular health, argued that the study still can’t explain a cause.
“Aortic dissection is a serious condition that has a high fatality rate” he said. “Patients detected in a hospital only have a 50 per cent chance of survival.”
“Surgery needs to be done immediately when the condition is first detected, no matter what. If you need life-saving surgery, waiting to consider the lunar cycle is absurd.”
