By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    medicare part d benefits
    Everything that You Need to Know About Medicare Part D
    August 15, 2022
    Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System this Winter
    Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System this Winter
    November 15, 2022
    back pain issues
    Ways to Treat Constant Back Pain
    August 21, 2023
    Latest News
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
    The Best Home Remedies for Migraines
    June 5, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    More On Wellness Programs To Improve Health and Reduce Costs
    January 25, 2012
    Privatizing Social Security and Medicare: Who Can Defuse Political Dynamite?
    June 12, 2011
    Study: Risk of Death in Elderly Patients with Dementia Doubled with Some Antipsychotic Medications
    February 26, 2012
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Researchers Seek Link Between Your Health and Your Surname
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Wellness > Researchers Seek Link Between Your Health and Your Surname
Wellness

Researchers Seek Link Between Your Health and Your Surname

Susan Scutti
Susan Scutti
Share
4 Min Read
health research
SHARE

health researchWhat’s in a name? For those who believe in nominative determinism, which suggests that people feel compelled to enter a particular profession based on their surname, well, your very future is in your name.

health researchWhat’s in a name? For those who believe in nominative determinism, which suggests that people feel compelled to enter a particular profession based on their surname, well, your very future is in your name. A set of researchers based in Dublin set out to prove that your health is also contained within your name — and if your last name happens to be “Trust,” they just may have accomplished this.

Right on time for a little Christmas cheer, the British Medical Journal offers us a new study that begins with the authors gravely hypothesizing that people with a last name of “Brady” would have a higher incidence of bradycardia (slow heart rate). First they scoured online residential telephone listings to determine the number of people in Dublin with the surname Brady. Then, because the prevalence of bradyarrhythmia is unknown, they used pacemaker surgery as an indication of bradycardia. Accessing the pacemaker database at a university teaching hospital in Dublin, they calculated the proportion of pacemakers implanted in patients named Brady over 61 months up to February 2013.

And what did they find? They discovered 579 Bradys listed in the phone directory as well as 1,012 total pacemakers fitted at the teaching hospital during their study period. Even more, they determined that eight devices (or 0.8 percent of the total) were implanted in patients named Brady. The proportion of pacemaker recipients among Bradys (1.38 percent), then was significantly higher than among non-Bradys (0.61 percent).

Yet the researchers were not completely satisfied with their results as they discovered a high percentage of male patients in the Brady pacemaker group to be noteworthy. “It suggests that the effect of the name Brady on your conduction system is likely only to be seen in people born as Brady rather than those who become Brady when they get married,” wrote the authors in their study. “Indeed, the number of true Bradys with pacemakers may have been underestimated, because female patients with pacemakers whose maiden name was Brady were not determined in this study.”

In conclusion the authors speculated that “further research could include investigating increased rates of obesity in the Fatt family or depression in people whose surname is Lowe. We believe that this finding could have an important role in public health medicine, and screening programmes that are name specific could be developed for families at risk.” Surprisingly, not one of the researchers is named Murth.

 
Source: Keaney JJ, Groarke JD, Galvin Z, et al.  The Brady Bunch? New evidence for nominative determinism in patients’ health: retrospective, population based cohort study. British Medical Journal. 2013.
 
(what’s in a name? / shutterstock)
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
Global Healthcare Policy & Law
July 17, 2025
paramedics in surgical gloves and masks
How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
Health care
July 16, 2025
a woman giving a key
How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
Health
July 16, 2025
a woman with kinesio tapes on her back arm
How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
Health care
July 16, 2025

You Might also Like

Countdown to National Employee Wellness Month

May 18, 2012

Kaiser Permanente Colorado Drastically Improves Hypertension Control Among Its Members

September 22, 2012
Wellness

5 Tips for Modifying the Home to make it Safe for the Elderly

November 15, 2017
Health careWellness

Financially Protecting Your Family against Serious Genetic Disorders

April 10, 2018
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?