Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:49:55.015Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Confinement of Winter Birth Excess in Schizophrenia to the Urban-born and its Gender Specificity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Eadbhard O'Callaghan ,
David Cotter ,
Karen Colgan ,
Conall Larkin ,
Dermot Walsh  and
John L. Waddington
Eadbhard O'Callaghan*
Affiliation:
St John of God Psychiatric Services, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Ireland
David Cotter
Affiliation:
St John of God Psychiatric Services, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Ireland
Karen Colgan
Affiliation:
St John of God Psychiatric Services, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Ireland
Conall Larkin
Affiliation:
St John of God Psychiatric Services, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Ireland
Dermot Walsh
Affiliation:
St Lomans Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin
John L. Waddington
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin
*
Dr E. O'Callaghan, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

The season of birth phenomenon in schizophrenia was reexamined in relation to place of birth, in order to test the hypothesis that a seasonal factor might operate preferentially among those who were urban-born.

Method

The seasonal distribution of births was examined among 3253 patients in two case registers having an ICD–9 diagnosis of schizophrenia and compared with the distribution of births among the normal population born in those catchment areas over the same period; those subjects born in population centres greater than 50 000 were defined as urban-born.

Results

Patients who were urban-born showed an excess of winter births relative to controls that was absent among their rural-born counterparts. On comparing patient groups, those who were urban-born were more likely to be born in the winter, while those who were rural-born were more likely to be born in the spring; this urban–rural distinction was confined essentially to female patients.

Conclusions

These findings might be accommodated most readily in terms of a spatially as well as seasonally varying environmental factor that is associated with urbanicity and to which female offspring are more vulnerable.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 51 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

Adams, W., Kendell, R. E., Hare, E. H., et al (1993) Epidemiological evidence that maternal influenza contributes to the aetiology of schizophrenia. An analysis of Scottish, English and Danish data. British Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 522–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, M. & Gruen, R. (1988) Risk factors in schizophrenia: season of birth and family history. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 460–465.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barr, C. E., Mednick, S. A. & Munk-Jorgensen, P. (1990) Exposure to influenza epidemics during gestation and adult schizophrenia: a 40-year study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 869–874.Google Scholar
Boyd, J. H., Pulver, A. E. & Stewart, W. (1986) Season of birth: schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 12, 173–186.Google Scholar
Bradbury, T. N. & Miller, G. A. (1985) Season of birth in schizophrenia: a review of evidence, methodology and aetiology. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 569–594.Google Scholar
Chilvers, C. (1978) Regional mortality 1969–73. Population Trends, 11, 16–20.Google Scholar
Crow, T. J. & Done, D. J. (1992) Prenatal exposure to influenza does not cause schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 390–393.Google Scholar
Haberman, S. J. (1973) The analysis of residuals in cross-classified tables. Biometrics, 29, 205–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, E. H. (1978) Variations in the seasonal distribution of births of psychotic patients in England and Wales. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 155–158.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. (1988) Temporal factors and trends, including birth seasonality and the viral hypothesis. In Handbook of Schizophrenia (ed. Nasrallah, H. A.), pp. 345–377. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Horne, W. A. (1957) Influenza 1957: Report on the Epidemic in Glasgow. Glasgow: Corporation of Glasgow Health and Welfare Department.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. & Kemp, I. W. (1989) Maternal influenza in the etiology of schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 878–882.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kunugi, H., Nanko, S. & Takei, N. (1992) Influenza and schizophrenia in Japan. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 274–275.Google Scholar
Lewis, G., David, A., Andreasson, S., et al (1992) Schizophrenia and city life. Lancet, 340, 137–140.Google Scholar
Machon, R. A., Mednick, S. A. & Schulsinger, F. (1983) The interaction of seasonality, place of birth, genetic risk and subsequent schizophrenia in a high risk sample. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 383–388.Google Scholar
McNeil, W. H. (1976) Plagues and People. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Mednick, S. A., Machon, R. A., Huttenen, M. O., et al (1988) Adult schizophrenia following prenatal exposure to an influenza epidemic. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 189–192.Google Scholar
Mednick, S. A., Machon, R. A., Huttenen, M. O., et al (1990) Influenza and schizophrenia: Helsinki vs Edinburgh. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 875–876.Google Scholar
O'Callaghan, E., Gibson, T., Colohon, H., et al (1991a) Season of birth in schizophrenia: evidence for confinement of an excess of winter births to patients without a family history of mental disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 764–769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Callaghan, E., Sham, P., Takei, N., et al (1991b) Schizophrenia after prenatal exposure to 1952 A2 influenza epidemic. Lancet, 337, 1248–1250.Google Scholar
O'Hare, A. & Walsh, D. (1987) The Three County and St Loman's Case Registers 1974 and 1982. Dublin: Medico-Social Research Board.Google Scholar
O'Hare, A. Walsh, D. & Torrey, E. F. (1980) Seasonality of schizophrenic births in Ireland. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 74–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pulver, A., Laing, K., Brown, C., et al (1992) Risk factors in schizophrenia: season of birth, gender and family risk. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 65–71.Google Scholar
Reading, R., Raybold, S. & Jarvis, S. (1993) Deprivation, low birth weight, and children's height: a comparison between rural and urban areas. British Medical Journal, 307, 1458–1462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sham, P., O'Callaghan, E., Takei, N., et al (1992) Schizophrenia following prenatal exposure to influenza epidemics between 1939 and 1960. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 461–466.Google Scholar
Shimura, M. & Muira, T. (1980) Season of birth in mental disorders in Tokyo, by year of birth, year of admission and age at admission. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 61, 21–28.Google Scholar
Susser, E. S. & Lin, S. P. (1992) Schizophrenia after prenatal exposure to the Dutch hunger winter of 1944–1945. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 983–988.Google Scholar
Takei, N., Sham, P., O'Callaghan, E., et al (1992) Cities, winter birth and schizophrenia. Lancet, 340, 558–559.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Takei, N., Sham, P., O'Callaghan, E., et al (1994) Prenatal influenza and schizophrenia: is the effect confined to females? American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 117–119.Google ScholarPubMed
Torrey, E. F., Rawlings, R. & Waldman, I. N. (1988) Schizophrenic births and viral diseases in two states. Schizophrenia Research, 1, 73–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Torrey, E. F., Bowler, A. E. & Rawlings, R. (1991) An influenza epidemic and the seasonality of schizophrenic births. In Psychiatry and Biological Factors (ed. Kurstat, E.), pp. 109–116. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Waddington, J. L. & Youssef, H. A. (1994) Evidence for a gender-specific decline in the rate of schizophrenia in rural Ireland over a fifty year period. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 171–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, D., O'Hare, A., Blake, B., et al (1980) The treated prevalence of mental illness in the Republic of Ireland – the Three County Case Register. Psychological Medicine, 10, 465–470.Google Scholar
Watson, C. G., Kucula, T., Tilleskjor, C., et al (1984) Schizophrenic birth seasonality in relation to the incidence of infectious diseases and temperature extremes. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 85–90.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) The Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (1CD-9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Youssef, H. A., Kinsella, A. & Waddington, J. L. (1993) Gender specificity of geographical variations in morbid risk for schizophrenia in rural Ireland. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 88, 135–139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.