Do more people die around Christmas time?
Added 2019-12-16 17:59:52 +0000 UTCI always notice that the undertakers seem very busy this time of year, does any LEGION member know if statistically more old people die this time of year or am I just mirroring my own reflective mood and imagining it?
A new analysis of mortality rates in the United States during different times of the year has found that people are more likely to die during the holidays – namely on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
A group of sociologists analyzed all the official death certificates during a 25-year period in the U.S. between 1979 and 2004, and conducted that there has been an excess of 42,325 natural deaths in the two weeks around the Christmas holiday period. This excess is above and beyond what would be considered the normal seasonal increase in the death rate in the U.S.
The study, published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, is from researchers David Phillips, Gwendolyn Barker and Kimberly Brewer. Professor Phillips of the University of California stated that the findings are “not trivial” and indicate that more people die in hospital emergency wards, or are DOA, on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day than any other days of the year.
Phillips said that the team’s analysis of 57.5 million death certificates shows that the chance of dying during the holiday period increases “somewhere between 3% and 9% depending on the demographic group you look at, and between 1% and 10%, depending on the cause of death analyzed.”
The results of this study pose more questions about the reasons behind this trend in excessive death rate.
It is speculated that psychological stress can make a difference, but for this to occur so specifically on a precise day, and for a huge range of diseases, makes it an unlikely sole determining factor.
Other possibilities are such things as emergency department overcrowding and staff shortages, winter travel, cold weather and substance abuse. However, none of these offer singluar convincing evidence of determining the trend.
With a terminal illness, such as cancer, the rise of deaths in hospitals at this time of year, is cancelled out by decrease of deaths in other medical settings like hospices or even at home.
Phillips claims the next steps in research is to follow up and try and identify the mechanisms that contribute to this spike in the death rate at Christmas. “For now, the message, is to pay attention to your health, and to your health resources, particularly on these two occasions.”
DEADBIG
Comments
No need to get sad and down in the holidays. Take the R DIKE cure. Just play a video game. Can you believe that shit. LFNL legion forever
2019-12-21 17:12:10 +0000 UTCI watched C.Fisted's latest post and now I want to die.. kidding
Matt
2019-12-17 20:14:16 +0000 UTCMy other half works in a nursing home. Theres at least one a week!
2019-12-17 16:04:23 +0000 UTCMaybe an elderly person who has lost their spouse, and/or other loved ones, from whenever, becomes more depressed and kind of gives up?! Depression can fuck with a persons health in many ways. Even the immune system. Interesting subject DB!
Steve Westermeier
2019-12-17 14:30:19 +0000 UTCWay to never hit me up/ back today! And yes, I took many many many psych classes. Hope all is okayyy
2019-12-17 05:26:36 +0000 UTCWait Nikki, you took abnormal psych? So did I.
Vanessa Vigil-Martinez
2019-12-17 05:25:12 +0000 UTCThe guys. Fuck if I remember their names, but I know them if I see them in Walmart enough to change isles. 99.9% of my job is endless redundant paperwork, and sleeping in cars fantasizing about a hot shower.
Vanessa Vigil-Martinez
2019-12-17 05:22:18 +0000 UTCThanks Kate❤️❤️❤️❤️
Matt
2019-12-17 04:40:26 +0000 UTCIts 25th (ish) january this year. Hot pot season is early.
2019-12-17 04:39:43 +0000 UTCSo who got charged with beastiality? The guys who claimed to be werewolves or the objects of their affections? You do have an interesting job.
2019-12-17 04:37:02 +0000 UTCStress, poverty and the weather (in certain places) all catch up with you at this time of year. It’s like the strange phenomenon of a lot of people dying in the early hours (2am-4am) it happens in nursing homes a LOT.
2019-12-17 04:27:47 +0000 UTCHere in good ol' Saigon it's Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year in March/April when people start jumping off the Saigon Bridge. The lead up to the Lunar New Year is really stressful on people. The traffic gets crazier than usual etc.
Matt
2019-12-17 03:35:55 +0000 UTCInteresting. Depression? Stress? Who can say? I was going to leave some of my personal thoughts on the matter but I thought the better of it. I will be keeping the Legion in my prayers during the holiday...and that's the most useful thing I can offer. Hope you all have a happy, peaceful and healthy holiday. Peace out.
2019-12-17 02:52:41 +0000 UTCOf course they is more death at the end of the year, such as at the end the week......when you are old and sick and so tied, most often very lonely with chronic pain the perspective of another year is enough to wish to die ...and it does happen...😥☹.....( I already died once at the end of the year and on the end of the millennium at 11am 31 December 2000...)
2019-12-17 01:38:51 +0000 UTCI didnt have time to read this whole post but yes more people die around this time of year. Stress induces all sorts of nasty things, heart attacks, strokes etc. And suicides spike around Thanksgiving/Christmas. Learned about that in my abnormal psych class. Also Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times at bars all year. Either people who drinking away the fact they had to deal with relatives and then there's the people who have no one and drink because they're lonely.
2019-12-17 01:24:49 +0000 UTCI work in a large factory and hear about a lot of deaths around the holidays but I’d have to say that there have been a couple December deaths in my family-but not more than any other time really. My Dad passed 17 years ago on the 14th and an uncle or 2 (I have 12 aunts n uncles) and maybe a grandparent but the rest are spread pretty evenly across the board. It does seem to be a pretty “down” time for lonely folks though. Just not so much in my family thankfully. I’d hate to leave that bitter taste in my families mouths around the holidays. We all have enough other shit to worry about.
2019-12-16 21:04:47 +0000 UTCI don't know for sure, but as a bailbondsman we sure get busy on any holidays that land on a weekend. Black Friday is getting more, and more violent. And despite statistics saying crime doesn't peak on a full moon, utterly bizarre crimes do. A seemingly good, loving father bit his toddler's thumb and pointer of for reasons still unknown. Also the only 3 bestiality bonds of my life happened on full moons. (No the weren't the same guy, and yes they all claimed to be werewolves.) There was a smash and grab at the local sex shop, of some very expensive pyrex sex toys. Car thefts sky rockets, as the thieves don't need pesky, attention grabbing flashlights. I 'm sure more will come to me, but that's all I have off the top of my head.
Vanessa Vigil-Martinez
2019-12-16 20:55:57 +0000 UTCWow Deadbug those stats are crazy! I work in a medical records department for a local health centre & process on average 1 or 2 deceased client files per week. Yesterday I was notified of 5 in one day! I was thinking what the fuck is going on! This is one local area let alone how many there were across the State in major hospitals etc. Then I wake up today & read this! It is the silly season I suppose! Wonder what today will bring? Very interesting facts presented Deadbug & lots to think about!
Mell Randall
2019-12-16 20:51:22 +0000 UTC
