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Short Communication

The Effect of the Lunar Cycle on Frequency of Births:

A Retrospective Observational Study in Indian Population
*Saswata Bharati1, Malay Sarkar2, Partha Sarathi Haldar1, Swapan Jana3, Subrata Mandal4
1
Assistant Professor, 2Assistant Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 3Associate Professor,
Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 4Associate Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, Midnapore Medical College,
Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India

Summary
For ancient period moon has been held responsible for many biological activities. That way, lunar cycle, by activity of
moon, has been held responsible for increase in number of child birth. In this retrospective, observational study, we
examined a total of 9890 full-term spontaneous deliveries as well as non-elective cesarean sections that occurred
throughout 12 lunar months (February 7th, 2008–January 25th, 2009) in a rural medical college to evaluate the influence
of the lunar position on the distribution of deliveries among Indian population. Student’s ‘t’ test and ANOVA were used
for statistical analysis where each delivery was considered as a single measure. We found no significant differences
in the frequency of births during various phase of lunar cycle regardless of route of delivery. Our observations do not
support the hypothesis of a relationship between lunar cycle and the frequency of obstetric deliveries.

Key words: Cesarean section, Lunar cycle, Obstetric delivery

In different cultures and mythologies, the moon is related
with fertility, pregnancy and delivery. Professional
obstetricians also notice an increase in demand for
obstetric care on the days when the moon is full,
particularly in rural India. Hospital organization in rural
region, which is already under pressure due to limited
resources and demands, needs to allocate resources with
regard to lunar phase may have detrimental effects.
There are various studies done on population groups
from different parts of the world, using different study
methods to correlate delivery processes to the phases of
the moon with contradictory results.1-7 We tried to find
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Saswata Bharati,
Assistant Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology,
Midnapore Medical College, Paschim Medinipur,
West Bengal, India.
E-mail: esbee77@rediffmail.com
Access this article online
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Website: www.ijph.in
DOI: 10.4103/0019-557X.99913
PMID: ***
out any basis in fact which support these popular beliefs
and to discover if lunar phases bear any influence on
the distribution of deliveries among Indian population.
Should there be any association between child birth
frequency and lunar cycle, labor wards and emergency
units should have adequate staff number and equipments
in times with expected higher birth numbers.
In this retrospective and observational study, we
examined 9890 patients of Indian origin, who went
for spontaneous deliveries and non-elective cesarean
sections at the Obstetric and Gynecologic ward of a
rural medical college, between February 7th, 2008 and
January 25th, 2009, covering 12 lunar months. Inclusion
criteria for this study were: Spontaneous vaginal births
without induction, vacuum and forceps extractions and
non-elective cesarean sections without labor induction.
Exclusion criterion was delivery induced by drugs such
as oxytocin, prostaglandins, and delivery induced by
mechanical methods such as membrane sweep and
artificial rupture of membrane. Five groups were formed
from the entire lunar cycle. Four of the groups were
based on the days of new moon, mid-ascending lunar
phase (from new moon to full moon), full moon, and
mid-descending lunar phase (from full moon to new
moon). Total numbers of births on a particular day or

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Bharati S, et al.: Effect of Lunar Cycle on Frequency of Births 153

time phase were taken for analysis. Average value of shown in Table 1. To see the lunar effect on the total
the total births of the middle two days was taken, where number of births during different lunar phase, analysis
the number of days was even between new moon to full of variance (ANOVA) and Student’s ‘t’ test were applied.
moon or full moon to new moon for calculating the total VassarStats website was used for Statistical Computation.
number of births on mid-ascending and mid-descending The number of total births on new moon, mid-ascending
lunar phase days. The fifth group comprised the average lunar phase, full moon and mid-descending lunar phase,
number of deliveries from all other days of a single lunar and the average number of births from all other days of
month except those specific days. The distribution of a lunar month except those specific days were compared
births among five groups for twelve lunar months was using ANOVA test. The number of births on new moon
day was compared to that of full moon day, and the
Table 1: Number of births in different phases in twelve months number of births on mid-ascending lunar phase was
(February 2008–January 2009; 12 lunar months) compared to that of mid-descending lunar phase using
Days Student’s ‘ t’ test. Similarly, Student’s ‘t’ test was applied
Spread of lunar New Mid- Full Mid- Mean number to compare the total number of births between new moon
months moon ascending moon descending of deliveries
lunar lunar phase occurring on and mid-ascending lunar phase, and between full moon
phase other days of day and mid-descending lunar phase.
a lunar month
excluding the
specific days The mean values of the number of births of 12 lunar
7 February–
th
24 35 23 17 23.29 months on new moon day, mid-ascending lunar phase,
6th March full moon day, mid-descending lunar phase, and the fifth
7th March– 23 18 25 24 24.3
5th April
group comprising the average number of births from all
6th April– 31 26 28 33∗ 26.79 other days of a lunar month were 30.25, 27.21, 28.92,
4th May 27.88 and 27.83, respectively. There was no difference
5th May– 30 20 34 40∗ 29.04 present in number of births between new moon and
2nd June
3rd June– 42 30∗ 18 34∗ 29.17
full moon (P = 0.569; >0.05), mid-ascending and mid-
2nd July descending lunar phase (P = 0.787; >0.05), new moon
3rd July– 30 30.5∗ 28 27 29.13 and mid-ascending lunar phase (P = 0.197; >0.05), and
31st July
between full moon and mid-descending lunar phase (P
1st August– 38 28∗ 34 27 31.17
29th August = 0.676; >0.05) [Table 2]. The ANOVA test, comparing
30th August– 29 31 32 31 32.96 all the five groups, revealed no significant correlation (P
28th
September
= 0.6642; >0.05) in number of births among the different
29th 33 24∗ 34 30 28.79 lunar phases [Table 3].
September–
27th October The effect of lunar phase has been studied for the
28th October– 36 27 31 30 28.08
26th November
incidence rate of patient falls in the hospital,8 surgical
27th 21 30.5∗ 29 15∗ 26.21 complications,9 postoperative nausea and vomiting,10
November– myocardial infarction,11 trauma12 and traffic accidents,13
26th December
behavior,14 psychiatric problems,15 suicidal tendencies,16
27th 26 26.5∗ 31 26.5∗ 25
December– crime rates,17 and even gout attacks.18 Although, some
25th January of the studies found associations of events with lunar
∗Average value of the middle two days was taken cycle,11,12,17,18 most of the studies either could not find

Table 2: Comparison of number of births between different groups [New moon, Full moon, Mid-ascending lunar phase, Mid-descending
lunar phase]
Groups to be compared with their Mean ± SD
New moon (30.25 ± 6.2975) Mid-ascending lunar phase New moon (30.25 ± 6.2975) Full moon (28.9167 ± 4.9259)
vs. Full moon (28.9167 ± (27.2083 ± 4.8075) vs. vs. Mid-ascending lunar phase vs. Mid-descending lunar
4.9259) Mid-descending lunar phase (27.2083 ± 4.8075) phase (27.875 ± 6.9548)
(27.875 ± 6.9548)
t value 0.578 0.273 1.33 0.423
P value 0.569 (>0.05) 0.787 (>0.05) 0.197 (>0.05) 0.676 (>0.05)

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154 Bharati S, et al.: Effect of Lunar Cycle on Frequency of Births
Table 3: One way ANOVA test of five groups [New moon, Full
moon, Mid-ascending lunar phase, Mid-descending lunar phase,
and Average number of deliveries occurring on other days of a
lunar month excluding the specific days]
ANOVA Summary (Independent Samples k = 5)
Source of Sum of df Mean Fisher Significance
Variation Squares Square F-value (P)
Between Groups 68.5403 4 17.1351 0.6 0.6642
Error 1577.652 55 28.6846 (>0.05)
Total 1646.1923 59
enough evidence to support the association or exclude
the possibility of any association in conclusion.8-10,13-16
Similarly, relationship of obstetric delivery with lunar
cycle is not out of controversies. Although, some studies
state in favor of positive association between them,1,2
most of the studies gave a dissent.3-7 The correlation,
when claimed, was found particularly in multigravida and
around the full moon.1,2 Oliver Kuss and Anja Kuehn19
conducted a retrospective cohort analysis on 4,071,669
live and stillbirths and found that there is no association
of the lunar cycle and the number of births from south-
west Germany. They applied spectral analysis to draw
their conclusion. In our study, we could not find any
association of lunar effect on number of obstetric delivery.
The different phases in the lunar cycle, neither the full
moon nor the new moon appear to have any influence
over the nature and distribution of deliveries in this study.
In rural India, this myth is still persisting. It is very important
to educate the common people, particularly the people of
rural area, that the pregnancy and delivery is not influenced
by moon and therefore there is no need for being panicked
and to take unnecessary harsh decision regarding delivery of
babies. They should consult the local doctor in rural hospital
or primary health centre for maternal health and possible time
for child birth. This myth should be explained for its no basis,
as a part of social education. The challenge for healthcare
professionals will be to choose the pregnant mothers at risk
of imminent delivery and to give them utmost care using the
limited resources available in rural hospital set up.
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Cite this article as: Bharati S, Sarkar M, Haldar PS, Jana S, Mandal S. The
effect of the lunar cycle on frequency of births: A retrospective observational
study in Indian population. Indian J Public Health 2012;56:152-4.
Source of Support: Nil. Conflict of Interest: None declared.