Statistische Untersuchungen zur Frage jahreszeitlicher Einfl�sse in der Geburtshilfe unter besonderer Ber�cksichtigung der Neugeborenenl�nge

The medical significance of date of birth

“…Several early studies agreed in showing that pregnancies resulting in summer births were, on the average, several days longer than those resulting in winter births (Bernhart, 1938;Censi, 1932;Guthman and Knos, 1937;von Khreniger-Guggenberger and Schurrer, 1932;Kustner, 1931;Noack and Otto, 1957;Otto and Glaas, 1959). Various ingenious explanations were advanced for these fairly consistent seasonal differences.…”

“…Sanders (1934) (Bivins, cited by Huntington, 1938;Dupin, Masse, and Correa, 1962;Li, 1963, but there have been some reports (Brenton, 1922;Kustner, 1931;Noack and Otto, 1957;Otto, 1960;Pasamanick and Knobloch, 1958;Salber and Bradshaw, 1952) that babies born in the summer are lighter than average, at least in certain segments of the population. Studies of postnatal growth and development in relation to birth date have also been inconclusive and contradictory (Chenowith and Canning, 1941;Fitt, 1941Fitt, , 1955Mills, 1941;Porter and Baird, 1927;Schiotz, 1937).…”

“…Seasonal cycles in the U.S. birth rates have been summarized by Rosenberg (1966). Otto and his associates (Noack and Otto, 1957;Otto, 1959Otto, , 1960, investigating birth rates in Germany and Switzerland since 1872, have found an aboveaverage number of births during January through June, with a slight peak in September; the excess was greater for illegitimate than for legitimate infants and for first-born than for later infants. On the other hand, Belavalgidad (1963) in New Delhi, found an excess of births occurring during the last six months of the year.…”

“…Record and Leek (1963) have discussed some of the other problems in determining the exact length of gestation. Relationship between season and prematurity have received limited attention (Bivins, cited by Huntington, 1938;Katz, 1953;Noack and Otto, 1957;Otto, 1960;Siani, 1937), and no general conclusions are possible.…”

Month of Birth Related to Fecundity and Childlessness Among Contemporary Women

“…determinants of optimal constitution, such as birth weight and length (Noack and Otto 1957;Selvin and Janerich 1971;Matsuda et al 1995;Wohlfahrt et al 1998), teenage and adult stature (Henneberg and Louw 1993;Weber et al 1998), eminence (Huntington 1938a(Huntington , 1938b, and longevity (Jongbloet 1992). The results among childless women are also in line with previous month-ofbirth studies related to subfecundity traits (Jongbloet 1993;Jongbloet et al 1994;Smits et al 1997aSmits et al , 1997b.…”