Baskerville effect
Encyclopedia
The Baskerville effect, or the Hound of the Baskervilles effect is a statistical
observation that mortality through heart attack
s is increased by psychological stress. It is named after the fictional Sir Charles Baskerville from the Sherlock Holmes
novel
The Hound of the Baskervilles
who died as a result of the stress of encountering the fierce dog after whom the story is named.
It was discovered by David Phillips and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego
, who found that daily number of deaths of the 200,000 Chinese
, Japan
ese and Americans
who died from heart attacks between 1973 and 1998 was 7% higher on the fourth of the month compared to the average for the other days in that month.
Four (四, formal writing: 肆, pinyin
si4) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese and Japanese
(as well as Korean) cultures because it sounds like "death" (死 pinyin
si3). Some Chinese and Japanese hotel
s and hospitals do not use it as a room number.
His hypothesis was that the peak was caused by stress induced by the superstition
surrounding this number. Previous research had also shown a complementary effect, mortality falling before auspicious occasions and rising again afterwards.
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
observation that mortality through heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
s is increased by psychological stress. It is named after the fictional Sir Charles Baskerville from the Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an...
who died as a result of the stress of encountering the fierce dog after whom the story is named.
It was discovered by David Phillips and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, who found that daily number of deaths of the 200,000 Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese and Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who died from heart attacks between 1973 and 1998 was 7% higher on the fourth of the month compared to the average for the other days in that month.
Four (四, formal writing: 肆, pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
si4) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese and Japanese
Culture of Japan
The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America...
(as well as Korean) cultures because it sounds like "death" (死 pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
si3). Some Chinese and Japanese hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s and hospitals do not use it as a room number.
His hypothesis was that the peak was caused by stress induced by the superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
surrounding this number. Previous research had also shown a complementary effect, mortality falling before auspicious occasions and rising again afterwards.