Your health could be written in the stars

THE time of year you are born could affect what diseases you will suffer from later in life.

Researchers suspect horoscopes play a significant role in physical fitness after linking them to the chances of developing one of 27 conditions.

They claim seasonal changes in ultraviolet rays, vitamin D levels and viruses – more common in the winter – may affect the way a foetus develops.

Men born in September were almost three times more likely to suffer thyroid complaints than those born in January, the study revealed.

And baby boys delivered in August had almost double the risk of asthma compared with those born in January.

Significant

Similarly, women born in July were more likely to suffer chronic neck pain and asthma. While high cholesterol, osteoporosis and anaemia more commonly befell women born in October.

Professor Jose Antonio Quesada, of Spain’s University of Alicante, said there was “significant association between the month of birth and the occurrence of various chronic diseases and long-term health problems”.

He added: “The month of birth may behave as an indicator of periods of early exposure to various factors, such as exposure to ultraviolet rays, vitamin D, temperature, seasonal exposure to viruses and allergies which may affect the development of the uterus and neonate in their first months of life.”

He went on: “The differentiation of patterns by sex found that there may be a different vulnerability in men and women to these early exposure factors.” The study, published in the journal Medicina Clinica, also found some birth months had a significant beneficial effect on health.

Men born in June were a third less likely to suffer depression and a fifth less likely to be diagnosed with lower back pain. Women born in June had a 33 per cent lower risk of migraines and a 35 per cent less chance of menopause problems.

Babies born in September appeared to have the least chance of being diagnosed with any chronic disease, with both sexes 33 per cent less likely to have any condition.

Meanwhile, research by the Office for National Statistics also found the birth month affects career and intelligence. December babies are more likely to be a dentist, debt collectors tend to be January births and February is a month for artists.