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Early risk factors in schizophrenia: place and season of birth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

N Takei ,
PC Sham ,
EO' Callaghan ,
G Glover  and
RM Murray
N Takei
Affiliation:
Genetics section, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF, UK
PC Sham
Affiliation:
Genetics section, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF, UK
EO' Callaghan
Affiliation:
Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Blackrock Co, Dublin, Ireland
G Glover
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Westminster Hospital, London, UK
RM Murray
Affiliation:
Genetics section, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF, UK
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Summary

First admission psychiatric patients born in England and Wales between 1938 and 1963, and discharged from hospitals in England and Wales between 1976 and 1986, were examined. Using logistic regression, we tested the hypothesis that the risk of shizophrenia varies by place, and season of birth. Persons born in city areas showed a 12% greater risk of schizophrenia (odds ratio 1.12; 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 1.19) than those born in non-city areas, when compared with other psychiatric patients. The increase in risk was particularly high for individuals born in city areas in winter (21%, ie odds ratio 1.21 and confidence interval 1.08 to 1.36). These findings suggest that the factor(s) responsible for the season-of-birth effect preferentially affects city born schizophrenics.

Keywords

schizophreniarisk factorwinter and city birth
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , 1995 , pp. 165 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1995

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