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Season of birth and schizophrenia: southern hemisphere data
M Berk1, M J Terre-Blanche, C Maude
1Department of Psychiatry, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Objective:
The association between winter birth and increased incidence of schizophrenia is well documented in the northern hemisphere. The present study examined season of birth and schizophrenia in a southern hemisphere population from a mild temperate climate.
Method:
The seasonal incidence of birth in schizophrenic patients was compared, using Chi-squared tests, to normative population birth rates.
Results:
A statistically significant seasonal pattern, with a peak in late spring and early summer, was obtained.
Conclusion:
This supports northern hemisphere findings regarding calendar month, but not season, of excess schizophrenic births. This has implications for viral and other aetiological hypotheses dependent on meteorological factors.