We all need to know this (and perhaps number 1. should go into the politics section).
http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news ... -christmasChristmas is a time of good cheer. It's also a period whose name has many unusual and little-known medical associations. Here are just a few of them.
1. Road toll myths
Reporting the grim news of the Christmas road toll has become as much a part of the summer season as Carols by Candlelight.
What is often not reported is that the number of road crash fatalities actually goes down over Christmas compared with the rest of the year.
The road toll for the 15-day festive period is on average lower than for other 15-day periods in the year. However, that's no excuse for not thinking about speed, alcohol, drugs, fatigue, mobile phone use and seatbelts when driving.
2. Foreign bodies
Christmas decorations are great but try not to eat them.
It's not just children who swallow tiny reindeers and other Christmas baubles.
German surgeons last year reported the removal of a plastic axe from the throat of a 72-year old lady who had eaten her Christmas cake in which it was embedded with a little bit too much gusto.
3. 'Tis the season to be jolly sick
Seasonality studies show that Christmas is a peak time for some illnesses. Not surprisingly alcohol-related health problems show a spike over Christmas.
The findings for suicides are less clear cut, with some studies contradicting the widely-held belief that people are more likely to try take their own life over Christmas .
And despite being a time of overindulgence and stress, there appears to be no increase in coronary disease over the festive period. There is, however, an increase in food poisoning attributable to pathogen such as campylobacter — no doubt due to the turkey.
4. Mistletoe the dodgy cancer cure
In English speaking countries mistletoe is traditionally known as the Christmas decoration under which there is a license to kiss.
For Germans, however, mistletoe (or Viscum album) is also famous for being a widely used alternative cancer therapy. Popularised by Rudolf Steiner, almost half a million prescriptions of mistletoe are issued for cancer patients in Germany every year.
The plant is claimed to have non-specific immune activation properties, but clinical trials have been inconclusive.
5. Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
Christmas trees are such a widely known symbol that they have been used as a descriptor of several medical conditions.
Some skin lesions have been described as having a "Christmas tree pattern" and even cataracts have been classified as "Christmas tree cataracts".
6. The trials of Christmas
In the Christmas issue of the BMJ this year some researchers lamented the deterioration in the quality of clinical trial acronyms.
And of course the word ‘CHRISTMAS' itself has been adopted as a clinical trial acronym: for the The Carvedilol Hibernation Reversible Ischaemia Trial.
7. Joy to the world
And finally, it might not be Australia's oldest choir, but the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Staff Christmas Choir is one of the most appreciated.
Since 1956 the choice has been giving performances in the wards and outpatients areas and is highly appreciated by patients and their families — as well as staff. They even have studies to prove it.