title: The Brady Bunch? New evidence for nominative determinism in patients' health: retrospective, population based cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To ascertain whether a name can influence a person's health, by assessing whether people with the surname "Brady" have an increased prevalence of bradycardia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective, population based cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  One university teaching hospital in Dublin, Ireland.
  
  
  METHODS
  People with the surname "Brady" in Dublin, determined through use of an online telephone directory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prevalence of participants who had pacemakers inserted for bradycardia between 1 January 2007 and 28 February 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  579 (0.36%) of 161,967 people who were listed on the Dublin telephone listings had the surname "Brady." The proportion of pacemaker recipients was significantly higher among Bradys (n=8, 1.38%) than among non-Bradys (n=991, 0.61%; P=0.03). The unadjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for pacemaker implantation among individuals with the surname Brady compared with individuals with other surnames was 2.27 (1.13 to 4.57).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients named Brady are at increased risk of needing pacemaker implantation compared with the general population. This finding shows a potential role for nominative determinism in health.
authors: Cardiology Department, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin 7, Ireland.
authors: John J
authors: JJ
authors: Keaney
authors: John D
authors: JD
authors: Groarke
authors: Zita
authors: Z
authors: Galvin
authors: Catherine
authors: C
authors: McGorrian
authors: Hugh A
authors: HA
authors: McCann
authors: Declan
authors: D
authors: Sugrue
authors: Edward
authors: E
authors: Keelan
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Galvin
authors: Gavin
authors: G
authors: Blake
authors: Niall G
authors: NG
authors: Mahon
authors: James
authors: J
authors: O'Neill
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001919:Bradycardia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009275:Names; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies