Birth order, not month can predict your future health- Dr Adebayo

CHINWE AGBEZE

As funny as it might sound to many, researchers at Columbia university have come up with findings that shows that one’s birth cannot only determine their astrological sign but also their risk to certain diseases in latter life.

The researchers carried out this study by analyzing data from medical records of 1.7million patients for 1700 different conditions after which they discovered that 55 of those diseases were significantly dependent on birth month. The study revealed that heart diseases were more common in winter babies.

The study’s lead author, Mary Boland, attributes the development to environmental factors connected with different seasons. ‘Birth month is always used as a proxy for some type of environmental exposure.

Asthma specialist, Dr Doug Mack says this research adds to evidence that early exposure to fall allergens can have a lasting effect. ‘So, it’s something that has really confirmed what we’ve been thinking all along. Dust mite levels can be higher, we have specific types of viral exposures based on that time and some of these early life exposures may set off a cascade of susceptibility that can continue for years”

However, a clinical psychologist in Federal Neuro-psychiatrist hospital in Yaba, Dr Richard Adebayo says no concrete prove exists.

He said, ‘I’m not an astrologer and I don’t know about astrology but in clinical psychology there’s nothing like that. I’m not aware of empirical studies that show that there is a connection between birth month and the health’.

Dr Adebayo also established an interesting link between the birth order and health which appears to make a lot of sense.

‘Birth order should be a matter of concern because it can have adverse effect on health.  Expectations and pressures vary between the first child in the birth order and the last. People often expect the first child to be like a role leader or mentor even in terms in parental discipline; they school the first child more because he should be like a pathfinder to others. This expectations and pressures might affect their health”, he said.