Seasonality of Schizophrenic Births in the United States

Torrey, E. Fuller; Torrey, Barbara Boyle; Peterson, Michael R.

doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1977.01770210079007

Cited by 165 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

Section: Increasing Evidence Associates Schizophrenia With Prenatal Ementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maternal infection with influenza virus in the second trimester of pregnancy causes a major disorder incidence (Mednick et al 1988;O'Callaghan et al 1991;Adams et al 1993). In addition, a seasonal effect has been also documented, with more persons born in the late winter and early spring months developing schizophrenia (Torrey et al 1977;Mortensen et al 1999).Release of cytokines by cells from the immune system is a hallmark in the response to infection. Accumulating experimental and clinical evidence suggest the involvement of cytokines in CNS development and function as well as in many pathological conditions (Plata-Salamán 1991;Otero and Merrill 1994;Rothwell and Hopkins 1995;Raber et al 1998;Zao and Schwartz 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Prenatal Immune Challenge Disrupts Sensorimotor Gating in Adult Rats Implications for the Etiopathogenesis of Schizophrenia

Borrell

Vela²,

Arévalo-Martı́n³

et al. 2002

Neuropsychopharmacology

280

191

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasing evidence associates schizophrenia with prenatal exposure to infection. Impaired ability to "gate out" sensory and cognitive information is considered to be a central feature of schizophrenia and is manifested, among others, in disrupted prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex. We analyzed the effect of a prenatal immune challenge-peripheral administration of bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to pregnant female rats-upon PPI and immune function in adult offspring. Prenatal LPS treatment disrupted PPI which was reversed by antipsychotics. Serum levels of interleukin-2 and interleukin-6 were increased. In addition, histopathological features in brain areas related with PPI circuitry were observed. These results illustrate the critical influence of prenatal immune events upon adult CNS functioning in association with the putative role of the immune system in (Braff et al. 1978;Kumari et al. 1999). A well-established sensorimotor gating paradigm is the prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response. PPI refers to the reduction in startle reactivity toward an intense pulse stimulus when it is shortly preceded by a weak prepulse stimulus (Hoffman and Ison 1980). It is thought that the prepulse response activates an inhibitory process that attenuates or "gates" the startle response. Because identical stimulus parameters can be used for animal and human studies, it is considered that animal models of PPI disruption represent a promising way to study the neural mechanisms underlying sensorimotor gating dysfunction (Swerdlow et al. 1994(Swerdlow et al. , 1999Swerdlow and Geyer 1998) and as a screening test for potential antipsychotics (Swerdlow et al. 1994;Depoortere et al. 1997). In fact, antipsychotics remove PPI deficits in schizophrenic patients (Kumari et al. 1999;Weike et al. 2000). Nevertheless, it must be taken into consideration that deficiency of PPI has been reported in other selected neuropsychiatric disorders where inability to inhibit movements is involved (Huntington's disease (Swerdlow et al. 1995 Tourette's syndrome (Castellanos et al. 1996)), where inability to control attentional and cognitive processes is involved (obsessive-compulsive disorder (Swerdlow et al. 1993)), or where anxiety and exaggerated startle occur (posttraumatic stress disorder (Grillon et al. 1996)). The focus of schizophrenia research has been turning from studies of structural and functional brain abnormalities to an increasing emphasis on possible etiologic factors. Neurodevelopmental theories of schizophrenia postulate that the psychopathology of schizophrenia may derive from alterations of brain organization secondary to defective ontogenesis (Weinberger 1996;Raedler et al. 1998). A causal relationship pertaining to disturbed brain ontogenesis and schizophrenia comes from epidemiological studies that have identified several risk factors that, acting during pregnancy, increase the incidence of the disease in offspring. Maternal infection with influenza virus in the second trimester of preg...

show abstract

Section: Increasing Evidence Associates Schizophrenia With Prenatal Ementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prenatal Immune Challenge Disrupts Sensorimotor Gating in Adult Rats Implications for the Etiopathogenesis of Schizophrenia

Borrell

Vela²,

Arévalo-Martı́n³

et al. 2002

Neuropsychopharmacology

280

191

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The last extensive reviews were subject count if the person was admitted to hospitals more than once during the study period. Thus, done by Bradbury andMiller in 1985 andBoyd et al in 1986, although brief reviews have appeared in the 19-state study by Torrey et al (1977), some duplication was thought to exist in many of the in the intervening years (Hare, 1988;Iannuzzo et al, 1990;Fossey and Shapiro, 1992; states. Individuals who had been admitted in more than one of the states during the study period et al, 1996).…”

Section: Accuracy Of Birth Data Barry and Barry Reviewed These Studiementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonality of births in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a review of the literature

Torrey

Miller

Rawlings

et al. 1997

Schizophrenia Research

575

381

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

More than 250 studies, covering 29 Northern and five Southern Hemisphere countries, have been published on the birth seasonality of individuals who develop schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder. Despite methodological problems, the studies are remarkably consistent in showing a 5-8% winter-spring excess of births for both schizophrenia and mania/bipolar disorder. This seasonal birth excess is also found in schizoaffective disorder (December-March), major depression (March-May), and autism (March) but not in other psychiatric conditions with the possible exceptions of eating disorders and antisocial personality disorder. The seasonal birth pattern also may shift over time. Attempts to correlate the seasonal birth excess with specific features of schizophrenia suggest that winter-spring births are probably related to urban births and to a negative family history. Possible correlations include lesser severity of illness and neurophysiological measures. There appears to be no correlation with gender, social class, race, measurable pregnancy and birth complications, clinical subtypes, or neurological, neuropsychological, or neuroimaging measures. Virtually no correlation studies have been done for bipolar disorder. Regarding the cause of the birth seasonality, statistical artifact and parental procreational habits are unlikely explanations. Seasonal effects of genes, subtle pregnancy and birth complications, light and internal chemistry, toxins, nutrition, temperature/weather, and infectious agents or a combination of these are all viable possibilities. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

show abstract

“…It has long been recognized that patients suffering from schizophrenia are more likely to be born in the first three months of the year (Barry & Barry, 1961; Editorial,1978;Hare & Price, 1968;Pulver, Stewart, Carpenter, & Childs, 1983;Torrey, Torrey, & Peterson, 1977). Similar data is available showing a higher winter birth rate for those with Bipolar Disorder (Barry & Barry, 1961, Hare & Price, 1968Hare, Price, & Slater, 1973) and for those with mental retardation (Knobloch & Pasamanick, 1958).…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

Editorial

Novins¹

1999

AIANMHR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Examining the season of birth of those with psychiatric disorders is not a new idea. It has long been recognized that patients suffering from schizophrenia are more likely to be born in the first three months of the year (Barry & Barry, 1961; Editorial,1978;Hare & Price, 1968;Pulver, Stewart, Carpenter, & Childs, 1983;Torrey, Torrey, & Peterson, 1977). Similar data is available showing a higher winter birth rate for those with Bipolar Disorder (Barry & Barry, 1961, Hare & Price, 1968Hare, Price, & Slater, 1973) and for those with mental retardation (Knobloch & Pasamanick, 1958). Because 44% (Robins, Murphy, & Wilkinson, 1959;Roy, 1982) to 64% (Barraclough, Bunch, Nelson, & Sainsbury, 1974) of all suicide victims suffer from depression, and an additional fraction ranging from 2% (Barraclough et al., 2 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1 1974;Robins et al., 1959) to 38% (Roy, 1982) suffer from schizophrenia, the authors were interested to see if a seasonal difference in birth rate exists for suicide victims.Previous work on month of birth of suicide victims produced inconsistent results. Two studies showed an excess of summer births in suicide victims. Pokorney (1960) in a survey of only 44 suicide victims showed a marked increase in a July birth month. Lester, Reeve, and Priebe (1970) showed no significant difference in month of birth of suicide victims, but found a slight excess of summer births. However, others did not find a seasonal difference. Sanborn and Sanborn (1974) found no significant differences in month of birth of suicide victims, and Beck and Lester (1973) found no significant differences in month of birth of suicide attempters. All of these studies examined suicide birth month at only one location. We examined suicide birth rates in different seasons among Alaska Natives.Seasonal suicide rates for Alaska Natives were initially examined because of high suicide rates for that population-both compared to the general U.S. population as well as to suicide rates for the Alaska state population as a whole. The non-native population of the state is relatively transient and would have been far less likely to be born in Alaska compared to Alaska Natives who were born and lived in their native state. So the authors did not examine birth dates of non-native Alaskan suicide victims since they were less likely to be born in Alaska.To study seasonal differences in suicide birth month, however, it would clearly be most advantageous to study suicide birth rates at different locations, at different latitudes, where seasonal influences would vary. More northern latitudes have larger differences between seasons than more southern latitudes. Should any seasonal difference in suicide birth rate occur, the effects should be most prominent where seasonal differences are most prominent. Accordingly, these differences should gradually decrease as latitude and intensity of seasonal differences decrease.Others have suggested that seasonal effects on mood vary by latitude. Rosenthal et al. (1988) demonstrated different seasonal changes of...

show abstract

Seasonality of Schizophrenic Births in the United States

Cited by 165 publications

References 33 publications

Prenatal Immune Challenge Disrupts Sensorimotor Gating in Adult Rats Implications for the Etiopathogenesis of Schizophrenia

Prenatal Immune Challenge Disrupts Sensorimotor Gating in Adult Rats Implications for the Etiopathogenesis of Schizophrenia

Seasonality of births in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a review of the literature

Editorial

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About