Abnormal seasonality of schizophrenic births A specific finding?

Summary

The unusual finding of an abnormal seasonal distribution of schizophrenic births, showing an excess of 10% in the winter or spring months and an equal deficit in the summer or autumn months, cannot be explained by artefacts. It has not yet been established whether the finding is specific to schizophrenia. We observed an excess of schizophrenic births of some 10% in March to May, significant at the 5% level, and a deficit of approximately the same size in June to August on the birth data of first-admission patients with the clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia. The data, obtained from the Mannheim Psychiatric Case Register, were compared with those of the Mannheim population and a control group matched by birth year and sex. The total population of mentally retarded children aged 7 to 16 years from the Mannheim population showed an excess of some 20% in April to June and an equal deficit in the last two quarters of the year, compared with the Mannheim population of the same birth years. The finding was not significant, but allowance must be made for the low case number of 415. We also compared 3409 first-admission patients with depressive syndromes (ICD 296 and 300.4) and 5615 first-admission patients with the diagnosis of “neurosis and personality disorders” (ICD 300–302, except 300.4, and 305–309) from the Mannheim Case Register with a control population and a parallel control group. Depressed males showed an excess of births in March to May, which was significant at the 1% level; the birth peak for females was smaller and not significant. The same findings were obtained for the category of neurosis and personality disorders, i.e. an excess of about 10% in March to May for males, significant at the 1% level, and a non-significant excess for females. Our findings are awaiting replication. Causal explanations will be discussed with great reservation. The procreational hypothesis, assuming those factors that lead to an equidirectional seasonal pattern of births with a slight deviation from the average of a year in the general population, to be reinforced in the disease categories mentioned, is regarded as the most simple and plausible explanation. It is based on the assumption that some of the parents of individuals suffering from schizophrenia, mental retardation or probably also some other mental disorders running from generation to generation, have a higher threshold in partner-seeking behaviour, which is overcome more easily in the summer months with the consequence of increased pregnancies.