| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
From the Stroke Team (G.S., V.H.), Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, London Health Sciences Center, University of Western Ontario; Stroke Research Program (G.S.), Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, University of Toronto; Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (A.B.), McMaster University, Hamilton; and Department of Applied Health Sciences (J.D.), University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Gustavo Saposnik, Stroke Service, Department of Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, 55 Queen Street E, Suite 907, Toronto, Canada ON M5C 1R6; e-mail: gsaposni{at}uwo.ca
Objective: To examine the influence of birthdays on the onset and course of vascular events such as stroke, TIA, and acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
Methods: This population-based study included all emergency department (ED) admissions due to ischemic stroke, TIA, or AMI from April 2002 to March 2004 in Ontario, Canada. All cases were identified through the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System. Calculations of daily and weekly numbers of events were centered on the patient’s birthday and the week of the birthday. Statistical analyses include binomial tests and logistic regression.
Results: During the study period, there were 24,315 ED admissions with acute stroke, 16,088 with TIAs, and 29,090 with AMI. The observed number of vascular events during the birthday was higher than the expected daily number of visits for stroke (87 vs 67; p = 0.009), TIA (58 vs 44; p = 0.02), and AMI (97 vs 80; p = 0.027) but not for selected control conditions (asthma, appendicitis, head trauma). Vascular events were more likely to occur on birthday (242 vs 191; odds ratio [OR] = 1.27). No significant differences were observed during the birthday week for any of the conditions. Multivariate logistic regression showed that birthday vascular events were more likely to occur in patients with a history of hypertension (OR = 1.88; 95% CI 1.09 to 3.24). Sensitivity analyses with alternative definitions of birthday week did not alter the results.
Conclusions: Stress associated with birthdays may trigger vascular events in patients with predisposing conditions.
This article was previously published in electronic format as an Expedited E-Pub on May 25, 2006, at www.neurology.org.
Supported in part by a grant of the Heart Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) and Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) given to Dr. Gustavo Saposnik. The grant was obtained based on competitive applications following publication of grant advertisements. The investigators acted as the sponsors of the study. Neither the HSFC nor the CIHR had input on the design, access to the data, analyses, interpretation, or publication of the study. The authors had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Received November 30, 2005. Accepted in final form February 23, 2006.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  G. Saposnik, A. Baibergenova, N. Bayer, and V. Hachinski Weekends: A Dangerous Time for Having a Stroke? Stroke, April 1, 2007; 38(4): 1211 - 1215. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Alter Patient page. Birthday blues. Neurology, July 25, 2006; 67(2): E3 - E4. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Minerva BMJ, June 10, 2006; 332(7554): 1400 - 1400. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
