This release is also availabe in French.

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grantee Peter Austin and three other researchers at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto have just completed a survey of hospital visits in Ontario, showing that, compared to people born under other astrological signs, Virgos have an increased risk of vomiting during pregnancy, Pisces have an increased risk of heart failure, and Libras have an increased risk of fracturing their pelvises.

In fact, each of the 12 astrological signs had at least two medical disorders associated with them, thus placing people born under a given sign at increased risk compared to those born under different signs.

The study, which used data from 10,000,000 Ontario residents in 2000, was conducted with tongue firmly in cheek.

Replace astrological signs with another characteristic such as gender or age, and immediately your mind starts to form explanations for the observed associations, says Austin. Then we leap to conclusions, constructing reasons for why we saw the results we did. We did this study to prove a larger point the more we look for patterns, the more likely we are to find them, particularly when we dont begin with a particular question.

Austin will discuss his results at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Conference in San Francisco, which runs from Feb. 15 to 19, 2007. What he found was that even though each astrological sign had its own unique disorders, his initial results were not reproduced when they were explicitly tested in a second population.

Scientists take pains to make sure their clinical studies are conducted accurately, says Austin, but sometimes erroneous conclusions will be obtained solely due to chance. Statistical chance means that 5 per cent of the time, scientists will inco
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Contact: Dor Dunne
dore.dunne@nserc.ca
613-851-8677
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
16-Feb-2007