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PAPERS: Kenji Hira, Tsuguya Fukui, Akira Endoh, Mahbubur Rahman, and Munetaka Maekawa Influence of superstition on the date of hospital discharge and medical cost in Japan: retrospective and descriptive study BMJ 1998; 317: 1680-1683 [Abstract] [Full text]

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Superstition and Medicine in the Western World

Cesare Tosetti   (21 January 1999)

Superstition and Medicine in the Western World 21 January 1999
Cesare Tosetti, General Practitioner Porretta Terme (BO), Italy Send response to journal: Re: Superstition and Medicine in the Western World	Editor, the interesting paper of Hira et al. (1) open renewed attention about the intriguing relationship between superstition and medicine. Also in Europe popular credence influences self-medication and the relationship between people and practitioners. In Italy it is a common practice to consult popular healers for the cure of Herpes Zooster infection (usually called "S. Anthony’s Fire"), and the astrologic advices that are daily published in the newspapers are usually looked by millions of people. A survey from the free astrologic responses weekly provided by a local radio broadcasting company of Bologna, Northern Italy, was carried out to evaluate the frequency of calls regarding health problems. Calls about health questions accounted for 19% of a total of 280 advice recorded in a 6-month period. The 86% of callers were females with a mean age of 36 years, and 42% of questions regarded pregnancy. The remaining calls were related to various gynaecological problems, chronic bone disease, head- ache, general health status, and the possible results of medical investigations. In all the cases it was suggested to follow medical advice. The need of astrological advice may represent a sign of a crisis in the relationship between patients and doctors. The regularity of readership of astrology column has been related to several anxiety dimensions (2), and readers usually seek confirmatory evidence for their hypotheses, so that this strategy results in a self-fulfilling prophecy (3). Astrologists simply gives common sense advice for an audience that feels weak and dependent, satisfying a needing of reassurance that is usually demanded to the doctor. By mean of this manner, astrologers still maintain a certain influence on the psychological dimension of health care, also in highly developed areas and for young people. Cesare Tosetti General Practitioner, Porretta Terme (Bologna), Italy. 1. Hira K, Fukui T, Endoh A, Rahman M, Maekawa M. Influence of superstition on the date of hospital discharge and medical cost in Japan: retrospective and descriptive study. BMJ 1998;317:1680-3. 2. Weimann G. The prophecy that never fails: on uses and gratifications of horoscope reading. Sociological Inquiry 1982; 52:274-90. 3. Glick P, Snyder M. Self-fulfilling prophecy: the psychology of belief in astrology. The Humanist 1986;46: 20-5.