SEASONALITY OF BIRTH IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE EFFECT OF REGIONAL POPULATION-DENSITY

Citation
H. Verdoux et al., SEASONALITY OF BIRTH IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE EFFECT OF REGIONAL POPULATION-DENSITY, Schizophrenia research, 23(2), 1997, pp. 175-180
Citations number
19
Categorie Soggetti
Psychiatry,Psychiatry,"Clinical Neurology
Journal title
ISSN journal
09209964
Volume
23
Issue
2
Year of publication
1997
Pages
175 - 180
Database
ISI
SICI code
0920-9964(1997)23:2<175:SOBIS->2.0.ZU;2-P
Abstract
It has been suggested that winter birth in urban areas may be associat ed with an increased risk. of schizophrenia. Data on 4139 patients wit h a hospital diagnosis of schizophrenia were obtained from a survey of public departments of psychiatry in metropolitan France. Place of bir th was classified according to the administrative subdivision of Frenc h territory into 95 'departements'. Density of population in the decad e and in the departement of birth was identified using successive cens us data. A 20% excess (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.03-1.40; p=0.02) of winter births (January-March) was found among patients born in highly densely populated areas (>136 inhabitants/km(2)) compared to those born in ot her areas. These results suggest that seasonal early environmental ris k factor(s) linked to schizophrenia predominantly operate in urban are as.