Thank God it’s Friday?—Correlation of the beginning and end of the week in general and Christmas holidays in particular with manner of death
Abstract Objective We evaluated the phrase “Thank God it’s Friday” (TGIF) from a forensic pathologist’s view, i.e. the correlation between the beginning and end of the week in general and Christmas Holidays in particular and the manner of death. Material and methods We retrospectively analyzed 758 consecutive autopsy cases from January 2017 to June 2019. Results There was no correlation between natural deaths and the beginning or the end of the week. One of our main findings in terms of a weekday effect was a profound increase in homicides towards the end of the week. In terms of a Christmas Holiday effect, we sadly observed a profoundly higher rate of suicide cases during Christmas Holidays compared with the rest of the year. Conclusion The TGIF phrase should be modified towards something like “Thank God, it’s Monday” (TGIM). We also should look out for our lonely and mood-susceptible fellow human beings in particular during Christmas Holidays.