Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T14:27:41.496Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Season of Birth in Alzheimer's Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Michael Philpot ,
Michelle Rottenstein ,
Alistair Burns  and
Geoffrey Der
Michael Philpot*
Affiliation:
Section of Psychogeriatrics, Guy's Hospital
Michelle Rottenstein
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia
Alistair Burns
Affiliation:
Section of Old Age Psychiatry
Geoffrey Der
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit; Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
∗Hither Green Hospital, Hither Green Lane, London SE13
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Variation in quarter of birth was examined in patients with a clinical diagnosis of AD. There was a significant excess of first-quarter births among AD patients as compared with the expected birth rates derived from an age-matched census sample. This finding was due entirely to the significant excess of first-quarter births in AD patients without a family history of dementia. No seasonal variation was found in the birth dates of other clinical groups.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 155 , Issue 5 , November 1989 , pp. 662 - 666
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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

Ball, M. J. (1982) Limbic predilection in Alzheimer's dementia: is reactivated herpes virus involved? Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 9, 303–306.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 etiology. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 569–594.Google Scholar
Cohen, D., Eisdorfer, C. & Leverenz, J. (1982) Alzheimer's disease and maternal age. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 30, 656–659.Google Scholar
Dalen, P. (1975) Season of Birth: a Study of Schizophrenia and Other Mental Disorders. Amsterdam: North Holland/American Elsevier.Google Scholar
Degreef, G., Mukherjee, S., Bilder, R., et al (1988) Season of birth and CT scan findings in schizophrenic patients. Biological Psychiatry, 24, 461–464.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. H. (1961) The recognition and estimation of cyclic trends. Annals of Human Genetics, London, 25, 83–86.Google Scholar
Hare, E. (1975) Manic-depressive psychosis and season of birth. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 52, 69–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hare, E. (1986) Aspects of the epidemiology of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 554–561.Google Scholar
Hare, E., Price, J. & Slater, E. (1974) Mental disorder and season of birth: a national sample compared with the general population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 81–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heston, L. L., Mastri, A. R., Anderson, V. E., et al (1981) Dementia of the Alzheimer type: clinical genetics, natural history and associated conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 1085–1090.Google Scholar
Heyman, A., Wilkinson, W. E., Stafford, J. A., et al (1984) Alzheimer's disease: a study of epidemiological aspects. Annals of Neurology, 15, 335–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holland, A. J. (1987) Genetic aspects of Alzheimer's disease. In Degenerative Neurological Disease in the Elderly (eds R. A. Griffeths & S. T. McCarthy). Bristol: Wright.Google Scholar
Homer, A. C., Honavar, M., Lantos, P. L., et al (1988) Diagnosing dementia: do we get it right? British Medical Journal, 297, 894–896.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinney, J. & Jacobson, M. (1978) Environmental factors in schizophrenia: new adoption study evidence. In The Nature of Schizophrenia: New Approaches to Research and Treatment (eds L. C. Wynne, R. L. Cromwell & S. Matthyse). New York, Wiley.Google Scholar
Mattock, C., Marmot, M. & Stern, G. (1988) Could Parkinson's disease follow intra-uterine influenza? A speculative hypothesis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 51, 753–756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKhann, G., Drachman, D., Folstein, M., et al (1984) Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 43, 939–944.Google Scholar
Mortimor, J. A., French, L. R., Hutton, J. T., et al (1985) Head injury as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 35, 264–267.Google Scholar
Nott, P. N. & Fleminger, J. J. (1975) Presenile dementia: the difficulties of early diagnosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 51, 210–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, DT 1643: Enumerated population born in England and Wales by sex, month of birth and year of birth, 1861–1971. London: OPCS.Google Scholar
Philpot, M. P. & Levy, R. (1987) A memory clinic for the detection of dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2, 195–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prusinier, S. B. (1984) Some speculations about prions, amyloid and Alzheimer's disease. New England Journal Medicine, 310, 661–663.Google Scholar
Renvoize, E. B. & Hambling, M. H. (1984) Cytomegalovirus infection and Alzheimer's disease. Age and Ageing, 13, 205–209.Google Scholar
Roger, J. H. (1977) A significance test for cyclic trends in incidence data. Biometrika, 64, 152–155.Google Scholar
Sensky, T. & Shur, E. (1982) Season of birth of schizophrenics: cyclic trends and their analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 316–317.Google Scholar
Tierney, M. C., Fisher, R. H., Lewis, A. J., et al (1988) The NINCDS–ADRDA Work Group criteria for the clinical diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease: a clinicopathological study of 57 cases. Neurology, 38, 359–364.Google Scholar
Vogt, T. (1986) Water quality and health: study of a possible relation between aluminium in drinking water and dementia (English summary). Sociale og Okonomiske Studier, 61, Oslo–Kongsvinger: Statistisk Sentralbyra.Google Scholar
Watson, C. G., Kucala, T., Tilleskjor, C., et at (1984) Schizophrenic birth seasonality in relation to the incidence of infectious diseases and temperature extremes. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 85–90.Google Scholar
Whalley, L. J. & Holloway, S. (1985) Non-random distribution of Alzheimer's presenile dementia in Edinburgh, 1953–76. Lancet, i, 578.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolf-Klein, G. P., Silverstone, F. A., Brod, M. S., et al (1988) Are Alzheimer patients healthier? Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 36, 219–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zipursy, R. B. & Schulz, S. C. (1987) Seasonality of birth and CT findings in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 22, 1288–1292.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.