Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:45:02.140Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Risk Factors in Schizophrenia

Season of Birth and Family History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Miron Baron  and
Rhoda Gruen
Miron Baron*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Genetics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Rhoda Gruen
Affiliation:
Division of Psychogenetics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Senior Staff Associate in Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
*
∗Division of Psychogenetics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 722 West 168th Street, New York 10032, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The association between the familial risk for schizophrenia and season of birth was studied in 88 schizophrenic patients. An increased risk for schizophrenia and ‘spectrum’ disorders was demonstrated among the first-degree relatives of winter and spring-born schizophrenic patients. However, patients with a family history of schizophrenia and ‘spectrum’ disorders did not differ from patients with no family history with respect to season of birth. Season of birth was unrelated to the sex of the patient, birth order, age at onset, or clinical subtypes (paranoid vs non-paranoid, as defined by the RDC, and ‘narrow’ vs ‘broad’, as defined by Taylor & Abrams' 1975 criteria). The morbid-risk data support a ‘stress-diathesis' hypothesis whereby environmental factors (in this case a seasonally varying viral insult may be implicated) interact with genetic vulnerability to increase the risk for schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 4 , April 1988 , pp. 460 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM-III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Baron, M. & Gruen, R. (1980) The Schedule for Interviewing Borderlines. New York: New York Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Baron, M., Asnis, L. & Gruen, R. (1981) The schedule for schizotypal personalities: a diagnostic interview for schizotypal features. Psychiatry Research, 4, 213–228.Google Scholar
Baron, M., Gruen, R., Asnis, L. & Kane, J. (1983) Familial relatedness of schizophrenia and schizotypal states. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1437–1442.Google Scholar
Baron, M., Gruen, R., Rainer, J. D., Kane, J., Asnis, L. & Lord, S. (1985a) A family study of schizophrenic and normal control probands: implications for the spectrum concept of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 447–455.Google Scholar
Baron, M., Gruen, R., Kane, L. & Asnis, L. (1985b) Modern research criteria and the genetics of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 697–701.Google Scholar
Boyd, J. H., Pulver, A. E. & Stewart, W. (1986) Season of birth: schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 12, 173–185.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
Buck, C. & Simpson, H. (1978) Season of birth among the sibs of schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 358–380.Google Scholar
Coffey, V. P. & Jessop, W. J. E. (1959) Maternal influenza and congenital deformities: a prospective study. The Lancet, ii, 935–938.Google Scholar
Dalen, P. (1974) Season of Birth: A Study of Schizophrenia and Other Mental Disorders. Amsterdam: North Holland/American Elsevier.Google Scholar
Endicott, J. & Spitzer, R. L. (1978) A diagnostic interview: the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 837–844.Google Scholar
Endicott, J., Nee, J., Fleiss, J., Cohen, J., Williams, J. B. W. & Simon, R. (1982) Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia: reliabilities and agreement between systems. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 884–889.Google Scholar
Gershon, E. S. & Goldin, L. R. (1986) Clinical methods in psychiatric genetics. 1. Robustness of genetic marker investigative strategies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 74, 113–118.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. (1976) The season of birth of siblings of psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 49–54.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. (1978) Variations in seasonal distribution of births of psychotic patients in England and Wales. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 155–158.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S. & Gruenberg, A. M. (1982) Genetic relationship between paranoid personality disorder and the schizophrenic “spectrum” disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 1185–1186.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Gruenberg, A. M. & Strauss, J. S. (1981) An independent analysis of the Copenhagen sample of the Danish adoption study of schizophrenia, II. The relationship between schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 982–984.Google Scholar
Kinney, D. K. & Jacobsen, B. (1978) Environmental factors in schizophrenia: new adoption study evidence. In The Nature of Schizophrenia: New Approaches to Research and Treatment (eds Wynne, L. C., Cromwell, R. L. & Matthysse, S.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.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, T. F. & Kaij, L. (1978) Obstetric factors in the development of schizophrenia. In The Nature of Schizophrenia: New Approaches to Research and Treatment (eds Wynne, L. C., Cromwell, R. L. & Matthysse, S.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
McNneil, T., Kaji, L. & Dzierzykcay-Rogalska, (1976) Season of birth among siblings of schizophrenics. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 54, 267–274.Google Scholar
Nasrallah, H. A. & McCalley-Whitters, M. (1984) Seasonality of births in subtypes of chronic schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 69, 292–295.Google Scholar
Parker, G. & Nielson, M. (1976) Mental disorder and season of birth – a southern hemisphere study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 355–361.Google Scholar
Parker, G. & Balsa, B. (1977) Season of birth and schizophrenia – an equatorial study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 56, 143–146.Google Scholar
Pulver, A. E., Sawyer, J. W. & Childs, B. (1981) The association between season of birth and the risk for schizophrenia. American Journal of Epidemiology, 114, 735–749.Google Scholar
Pulver, A. E., Sawyer, J. W. & Carpenter, W. T. Jr (1983) Risk factors in schizophrenia: season of birth in Maryland, USA. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 389–396.Google Scholar
Rieder, R. O., Rosenthal, D., Wender, P. & Blumenthal, H. (1975) The offspring of schizophrenics. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 200–211.Google Scholar
Roche, S. D. & Dalen, P. (1974) In Season of Birth: A Study of Schizophrenia and Other Mental Disorders. Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Saxen, L., Hjelt, L., Sjostedt, J. E., Hakosalo, J. & Hakosalo, H. (1960) Asian influenza during pregnancy and congenital malformations. Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica, 49, 114–126.Google Scholar
Shensky, T. & Shur, E. (1982) Season of birth of schizophrenics: cyclic trends and their analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 316–317.Google Scholar
Shimura, M. & Miura, T. (1980) Season of birth in mental disorders in Tokyo, Japan, by year of birth, year of admission and age at admission. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 61, 21–28.Google Scholar
Shur, E. (1982) Season of birth in high and low risk schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 410–415.Google Scholar
Sobel, D. E. (1961) Infant mortality and malformations in children of schizophrenic women. Psychiatric Quarterly, 35, 60–65.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–782.Google Scholar
Syme, G. J. & Illingworth, D. J. (1978) Sex differences in birth patterns of schizophrenics. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 34, 633–635.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. A. & Abrams, R. (1975) A critique of the St Louis psychiatric research criteria for schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 1276–1280.Google Scholar
Torrey, E. F. & Torrey, B. B. (1980) Sex differences in the seasonality of schizophrenic births. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 101–104.Google Scholar
Torrey, E. F., Torrey, B. B., & Peterson, M. R. (1977). Seasonality of schizophrenic births in the United States. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 1065–1070.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.