Be careful blowing out the candles. Scientists have found we are more likely to die on our birthday than any other day。

　　Researchers who studied more than two million people over 40 years found a rise in deaths from heart attacks, strokes, falls and suicides。

　　William Shakespeare died on his birthday on April 23 1616. The actress Ingrid Bergman also died on her birthday, in August 1982.

　　On average, people over the age of 60 were 14 percent more likely to die on their birthdays。

　　Heart attacks rose 18.6 percent on birthdays and were higher for men and women while strokes were up 21.5 percent - mostly in women。

　　Dr Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross of the University of Zurich, said: 'Birthdays end lethally more frequently than might be expected.' He added that risk of birthday death rose as people got older。

　　Canadian data also showed that strokes were more likely on birthdays, especially among patients with high blood pressure。

　　There was a 34.9 percent rise in suicides, 28.5 percent rise in accidental deaths not related to cars, and a 44 percent rise in deaths from falls on birthdays。

　　Psychologist prof Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, said: "It seems to be a valid finding。

　　"There are two camps - one is the camp that suggests you eat too much and your getting on a bit and that causes you to die。

　　"The other is a placebo effect. You are knife-edged on death. And you kept yourself going until your birthday. You think 'that's it I've had enough I'm out of here'."

　　Dr Lewis Halsey, of the University of Roehampton, said: 'One interesting finding is that more suicides happen on birthdays, though only in men。

　　'Perhaps men are more likely to make a statement about their unhappiness when they think people will be taking more notice of them.'

　　The study is published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology。

　　吹生日蠟燭的時候要當心哦。科學家發現，一個人在生日當天死亡的幾率比其他日子都要高。

　　研究人員在40年間對200萬余人進行了調查研究，發現在生日當天死于心臟病、中風、摔倒和自殺的人更多。

　　威廉·莎士比亞死于1616年4月23日——他生日那天。女演員英格麗·褒曼也在1982年8月的生日那天去世。

　　平均而言，60歲以上的人在生日當天去世的幾率要高出14%。

　　生日當天心臟病發的概率要高出18.6%，男女皆是如此。中風的幾率則增加21.5%，女性占多數。

　　蘇黎世大學的弗拉德塔·阿吉達西克-格羅斯博士說：“生日成忌日的情況比預想的更多。”他補充說，隨著人們年齡增大，生日死亡的風險也會增大。

　　加拿大的數據還顯示，在生日那天中風的可能性更大，特別是高血壓患者。

　　生日那天自殺的可能性高出34.9%，和撞車無關的事故死亡可能性高出28.5%，摔死的可能性高出44%。

　　赫特福德大學的心理學教授理查德·懷茲曼說：“這似乎是個確鑿的發現。”

　　“有兩種情況，一種是飲食過量、興奮過了頭，導致猝死。”

　　“另一種情況是安慰劑效應。死亡已經步步緊逼，但是你卻一直堅持到生日那天。然后你想‘好了，我已經從這個世界得到了足夠的東西’。”

　　羅漢普頓大學的路易斯·哈爾西博士說：“一個有趣的發現是，更多的人選擇在生日那天自殺，不過只有男性是這樣。”

　　“也許男性認為生日這天人們會更多地注意他們，這樣他們才更可能宣告自己的不幸。”

　　該研究發表在《流行病學紀事》雜志上。