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Seasonality of births in affective disorder in an Irish population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

M Clarke ,
F Keogh ,
PT Murphy ,
M Morris ,
C Larkin ,
D Walsh  and
E O’Callaghan
M Clarke
Affiliation:
Stanley Research Unit, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, St John of God Adult Psychiatric Services, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin
F Keogh
Affiliation:
The Health Research Board, 73 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
PT Murphy
Affiliation:
Stanley Research Unit, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, St John of God Adult Psychiatric Services, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin
M Morris
Affiliation:
Stanley Research Unit, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, St John of God Adult Psychiatric Services, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin
C Larkin
Affiliation:
Stanley Research Unit, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, St John of God Adult Psychiatric Services, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin
D Walsh
Affiliation:
The Health Research Board, 73 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
E O’Callaghan
Affiliation:
Stanley Research Unit, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, St John of God Adult Psychiatric Services, Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin
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Summary

Seasonal variation in the births of patients with schizophrenia is a consistently replicated epidemiological finding. Few studies have investigated this phenomenon among patients with a diagnosis of affective disorder. The majority of season of birth studies have employed the chi square test for statistical analysis, a method that has been subject to some criticism. Using a Kolgomorov-Smirnov type statistic, the quarterly birth distribution of 6,646 patients with an ICD 9/10 diagnosis of affective disorder were compared to the general population. Only the births of those individuals with unipolar forms of affective disorder (n = 4,393) differed significantly from the general population, with significant excesses and deficits in the second quarter and fourth quarter respectively. These results were not altered by application of the displacement test. © 1998 Elsevier, Paris

Keywords

unipolar affective disorderbipolar affective disorderseason of birthKolgomorov-Smirnov type statistic
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 13 , Issue 7 , November 1998 , pp. 353 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1998

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