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.

(Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)