ArticleScientific reports2025
Exploring the influence of moon phases and weather on mortality in a palliative care unit over a ten year period.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite a common belief among public and sometimes medical professionals that moon phases affect mortality rates, studies do not confirm generally higher mortality rates. However, periods of extreme heat or cold have been shown to cause fluctuations in mortality, especially in vulnerable patients. This study aimed to examine whether mortality rates in a 10-bed palliative care unit were influenced by moon phases or weather conditions (temperature, barometric pressure, humidity). Data were gathered from records of the Wuerzburg University Hospital palliative care unit, the Wuerzburg weather station, and the NASA lunar calendar. Daily death rates were calculated over a 10-year period (2010-2019). Bivariate analyses and linear multivariate regression analyses were used to explore potential relationships between moon phases, weather, and mortality. Linear associations, a prerequisite for regression analysis, were ensured using Box-Tidwell tests. Over 3652 days, 3120 patients were treated, with 1508 (48.4%) deaths recorded. The average daily death rate was 0.41 (SD = 0.65), with a maximum of five deaths per day. No deaths occurred on 2411 days (66%). The average death rates were similar across the moon phases: 0.40 (SD = 0.71) for the full moon, 0.42 (SD = 0.66) for the new moon, 0.40 (SD = 0.62) for the waxing moon, and 0.43 (SD = 0.66) for the waning moon, with no significant association (ANOVA: F(3, 3648) = 0.51, p = 0.67). Weather variations were not significantly associated with death rates. The multivariate linear regression analysis confirmed that no combined effects, e.g., of different weather aspects, were found (F(6, 3643) = 0.41, p = 0.87). Our findings align with those of previous studies, which revealed no associations between the moon phases and mortality rates. Unlike general mortality trends, temperature did not significantly impact death rates in the palliative care unit, possibly because of controlled environmental factors. Limitations included a low incidence of extreme weather, which may have reduced the statistical power. Trial registration This study did not involve any health care interventions for human participants and, therefore, did not require registration.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.