Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T21:08:23.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Variations in the Seasonal Distribution of Births of Psychotic Patients in England and Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

E. H. Hare*
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal Hospital; Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3BX

Summary

The quarterly distribution of births of patients born in England and Wales 1921–60 and first admitted in 1970–75 was examined by decade of birth and by age at year of admission. For patients with schizophrenia and affective psychosis, the distribution varied: in the early decade (1921–30), and for older patients (45–54 years) the proportion of births in the fourth quarter of the year was high, compared with expectation from live births in the general population; but it became lower in succeeding decades and for younger age groups. No comparable change occurred for births of patients with neurosis or personality disorder.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armitage, P. (1971) Statistical Methods in Medical Research, p 363. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. (1975) Manic-depressive psychosis and season of birth. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 52, 6979.Google Scholar
Hopkinson, G. & Ley, P. (1969) A genetic study of affective disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 917–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimura, M., Nakamura, I. & Miura, T. (1977) Season of birth of schizophrenics in Tokyo, Japan. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 55, 225–32.Google Scholar
Winokur, G., Cadoret, R., Dorzab, J. & Baker, M. (1971) Depressive disease: a genetic study. Archives General Psychiatry, 24, 135–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woodruff, R. A., Guze, S. B. & Clayton, P. J. (1971) Unipolar and bipolar primary affective disorder British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 33–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.