The influence of the full moon on the number of accessions to an animal emergency centre.
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that the number of animal emergency centre accessions is associated with the time of the full moon.


METHODS
Retrospective study. A comparison was made of the number of accessions to the University of Melbourne Animal Emergency Centre in the period February 2003 to January 2006 on full moon and non-full moon days, adjusted for day of the week and public holiday. A three day period with the day of the full moon as the middle day was taken to be a full moon period.


RESULTS
A total of 12,102 animals were presented to the Centre in this time. An adjusted count ratio of 1.048 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.14; P = 0.26) for accessions on full moon days compared with those on non-full moon days indicated that there was no significant association between the full moon and the number of accessions per day.


CONCLUSIONS
There was no significant difference between the number of animals presented to the University of Melbourne Animal Emergency Centre on full moon days and non-full moon days.
McAlees
T J
TJ
University of Melbourne Veterinary Clinic and Hospital, 250 Princes Highway, Werribee VIC 3030, Australia. tmcalees@unimelb.edu.au
Anderson
G A
GA
D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002415:Cats; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004285:Dogs; D004630:Emergencies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016081:Moon; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010507:Periodicity; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014730:Veterinary Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*