Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:43:26.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prenatal Exposure to the 1957 Influenza Epidemic and Adult Schizophrenia: A Follow-Up Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

M. Cannon ,
D. Cotter ,
V. P. Coffey ,
P. C. Sham ,
N. Takei ,
C. Larkin ,
R. M. Murray  and
E. O'callaghan
M. Cannon
Affiliation:
St. John of God Psychiatric Services, Co. Dublin
D. Cotter
Affiliation:
St. John of God Psychiatric Services, Co. Dublin
V. P. Coffey
Affiliation:
Foundation for the Prevention of Childhood Handicaps, St. James Hospital, Dublin
P. C. Sham
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London
N. Takei
Affiliation:
St. John of God Hospital, Co. Dublin
C. Larkin
Affiliation:
St. John of God Hospital, Co. Dublin
R. M. Murray
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London
E. O'callaghan*
Affiliation:
St. John of God Psychiatric Services, Co. Dublin
*
Dr E. O'Callaghan, Consultant Psychiatrist, St. John of God Community Psychiatric Services, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

We investigated the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to the 1957 A2 influenza increases the risk of schizophrenia in adulthood.

Method

We traced a cohort of individuals known to have been exposed to the 1957 influenza epidemic during gestation and an unexposed cohort matched for period of gestation and hospital of birth. Follow-up information on psychiatric illness in subjects was sought from two sources: maternal interview and psychiatric hospital admission data.

Results

Follow-up information was obtained on 54% of the sample: 238 subjects from the influenza-exposed group and 287 subjects from the unexposed group. There was no increased risk of schizophrenia among the exposed cohort compared to the unexposed cohort (relative risk 1.1; 95% CI 0.41–2.95), although there was an increase in depressive illness (relative risk 1.59; 95% CI 1.15–2.19).

Conclusions

The association between prenatal influenza and an increased risk of schizophrenia in adulthood has thus far been found only in population-based data and is not supported by the present observational study which has information about exposure and outcome in individuals.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 168 , Issue 3 , March 1996 , pp. 368 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 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.Google Scholar
Coffey, V. P. & Jessop, W. J. E. (1959) Maternal influenza and congenital deformities: a prospective study. Lancet, ii, 935–938.Google Scholar
Coffey, V. P. & Jessop, W. J. E. (1963) Maternal influenza and congenital deformities: a follow-up study. Lancet, i, 748–751.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
Huttunen, M. O., Machon, R. A. & Mednick, S. A. (1994) Prenatal factors in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 15–19.Google Scholar
Kunugi, H., Nanko, S., Takei, N., et al (1995) Schizophrenia following in utero exposure to the 1957 influenza epidemics in Japan. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 450–452.Google Scholar
Lynberg, M. C., Khoury, M. J., Lu, X., et al (1994) Maternal flu, fever and the risk of neural tube defects: a population-based case-control study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 140, 245–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGrath, J. J., Pemberton, M. R., Welham, J. L., et al (1994) Schizophrenia and the influenza epidemics of 1954, 1957 and 1959: a southern hemisphere study. Schizophrenia Research, 14, 1–8.Google Scholar
Mednick, S. A., Machon, R. A., Huttunen, M. O., et al (1988) Adult schizophrenia following prenatal exposure to an influenza epidemic. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 189–192.Google Scholar
Morgenstern, H. (1982) Uses of ecological analysis in epidemiological research. American Journal of Public Health, 72, 1336–1344.Google Scholar
Murray, R. M., Jones, P., O'Callaghan, E., et al (1992) Genes, viruses and neurodevelopmental schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 26, 225–235.Google Scholar
O'Callaghan, E., Sham, P., Takei, N., et al (1991a) Schizophrenia after prenatal exposure to 1957 A2 influenza epidemic. Lancet, 337, 1248–1250.Google Scholar
O'Callaghan, E., Sham, P., Takei, N., et al (199b) Schizophrenia and influenza Getter). Lancet, 338, 118–119.Google Scholar
Selten, J.-P. C. J. & Sleats, J. P. J. (1994) Evidence against maternal influenza as a risk factor for schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 674–676.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robbins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria for a Selected Group of Functional Disorders (3rd edn.). New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Susser, E., Lin, S. L., Brown, A. S., et al (1994) No relation between risk of schizophrenia and prenatal exposure to influenza in Holland. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 922–924.Google Scholar
Torrey, E. F., Rawlings, R. & Waldman, I. N. (1988) Schizophrenic births and viral disease in two states. Schizophrenia Research, 1, 73–77.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.