[Lunar phases and incidence of spontaneous deliveries. Our experience].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the relationship between lunar phases and birthrate.

STUDY DESIGN

We examined 7842 spontaneous deliveries at Obstetric and Gynaecologic Clinic of University of Florence, between January 1988 and November 1992, covering 58 synodic lunar months. A lunar month was considered to be a period of 29.5 days and comprised four lunar phases: the full moon, the last quarter, the new moon and the first quarter. We compared the median number of births in each day of synodic month and in the periods of seven days centered on the first day of each moon phase. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis by ranks.

RESULTS

Non significant differences were found in the incidence of spontaneous birth throughout the lunar cycle.

CONCLUSIONS

These results do not support the hypothesis of a relationship between moon-phase changes and the incidence of spontaneous deliveries.