Differences between schizophrenics born in winter and summer

Abstract

A total of 1814 patients were studied from the Mississippi State Hospital with a DSM-III diagnosis of schizophrenia and aged 15-39 years at the time of admission. The 634 schizophrenics with a birth date between 1 December and 31 March were compared with the 1180 born between 1 April and 30 November for age of admission, race, sex, marital status, duration of initial admission and clinical subtype. The only significant difference between the variables was the duration of the first admission: winter-born patients had a shorter psychiatric hospitalization than summer-born schizophrenics. These findings are discussed in accord with similar studies.