People are prone to disease because of birth month, said scientists

It might sound insane, that people born in some months are more prone to experience certain illnesses. The notion that the position of earth in relation to the stars has any relationship to health seems bizarre and the scientific consensus is that astrology is a complete pseudoscience.

However, physicians have gone back 2,500 years to the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, and have observed that there might be some connection between health and seasons. The ancient Greek healer wrote, "For knowing the changes of the seasons ... how each of them takes place, he (the clinician) will be able to know beforehand what sort of a year is going to ensue."

There might be a relationship between the birth month and a person’s susceptibility to the disease, but it is certainly not the position of the stars, confirms a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. The researchers have directly linked the risk of diseases to the presence of certain risk factors to particular seasons such as an abundance of dust mites and several other allergens in certain months. It is also likely that the seasonal variations in vitamin D (which people are more expected to be lacking in winter) might have effects throughout a person’s life, which might crop up if they are born with those deficiencies.

The study by the data scientists have analysed 1.75 million electronic medical records of people who were treated at the Columbia University Medical Centre between 1985 and 2013. Out of 1,688 diseases they looked at, researchers found that 55 diseases that has seasonal links, including ADHD, asthma, cardiovascular illnesses, reproductive issues and neurological problems.

Further, the study also reveals that being born in certain months had a stronger overall effect than others. For example, people born in September, October, or November were associated with a higher risk of certain diseases, while those born in February, March, April, May and July were less likely to develop illnesses. Being born in May, June, August, January, and December didn't provide an “overall advantage or disadvantage.’’ However, those who were born in May or July were associated with the lowest risk for disease, while people who were born in October or November were more prone to disease, says a Businessinsider.in report.

In a YouTube video, Nicholas Tatonetti, the principal investigator, explains, "the risk is not that great that you should worry about when your baby is going to be born or when you might have been born. There's lots of other variables that account for disease incidence."

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