This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kendell, R. E.
Right arrow Articles by Kemp, I. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kendell, R. E.
Right arrow Articles by Kemp, I. W.

The British Journal of Psychiatry 151: 499-505 (1987)
© 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Winter-born v summer-born schizophrenics

RE Kendell and IW Kemp
Edinburgh University Department of Psychiatry.

Data from two sources--the Edinburgh Psychiatric Case Register and the psychiatric inpatient records of the Scottish Health Service--were used to compare large populations of first-admission schizophrenics born in winter (January to March) and in summer (June to October). Parallel comparisons were carried out for affective psychoses. Comparison of the months of birth of the Scottish patients with those of the general population indicated that there was a 9% excess of schizophrenic births and a 3% excess of affective births in the first 3 months of the year. In the Edinburgh material, winter-born schizophrenics were more likely than the summer-born to receive a diagnosis of paranoid or schizoaffective schizophrenia and less likely to receive diagnoses other than schizophrenia on readmission, but neither of these differences emerged in the much larger Scottish material. There were no differences between winter- and summer-born schizophrenics in age of onset, sex ratio, or prognosis in either data set, nor were any significant differences found between winter- and summer-born affectives. We have therefore failed to demonstrate any convincing differences between winter- and summer-born schizophrenics.