# Is there a "birthday effect" on the death rate of old people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-birthday-effect-on-the-death-rate-of-old-people/265790 "2004-09-24T00:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-birthday-effect-on-the-death-rate-of-old-people/265790/1 "2004-09-24T00:40:31Z")
Long ago, I heard that when people get old, they tend to hold out until just after their birthday to die. The phenomena even had a name, the birthday effect. When a GD thread prompted me to look up the current status of this story, I [[www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol1/3/1-3.pdf++"death+rate"+"birthday+effect"&hl=en&ie=UTF-8](http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol1/3/1-3.pdf++%22death+rate%22+%22birthday+effect%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)]found]([http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:JiCasOcC1kIJ:](http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:JiCasOcC1kIJ:)[url) this: > [@](#): > > This result leads to the conclusion that there is no “birthday effect” in Denmark. As a consequence the shorter life span of people born in spring is independent of the “birthday effect”. Odd variations in the deathrate depending on month of birth aside, what’s the concensus on the birthday effect? Does it happen in the US, or is the whole theory now outmoded and discredited? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-birthday-effect-on-the-death-rate-of-old-people/265790/2 "2004-09-24T00:42:20Z")
Link went bad AFTER preview 😕 [Longevity and Month of Birth](http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:JiCasOcC1kIJ:www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol1/3/1-3.pdf++%22death+rate%22+%22birthday+effect%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-birthday-effect-on-the-death-rate-of-old-people/265790/3 "2004-09-24T01:07:20Z")
The whole idea of “hold on” vs “let go” in death is pretty controversial. It’s like the paranormal. You _want_ to believe, but… Peace, mangeorge