[Endogenous affective disorder, seasons of birth and photoperiodicity].

In a retrospective study, we compared the months of birth of 3,106 psychiatric inpatients to those of 1,943 surgical patients collected during the same period 1981-1991 in the same hospital, and of a sample of 10,003,572 births in France in 1977-1989. DSM III-R categories were modified so to allow a comparison with former studies, and psychiatric patients were distributed among seven categories: Bipolars (N = 294), Unipolars (N = 287), Neurotic-reactive depressions (N = 582), First Major Depressive episode (N = 214), Schizophrenia (N = 244), Schizo-Affectives (N = 52) and Other Diagnosies (N = 1,433). Months of birth were grouped in quarters and semesters, according to the usual calendar, but also to temperature and the photoperiodic cycle. The main results were: 1. A seasonnality of births in the General Population sample, with a spring maximum (p < 0.001). 2. An absence of deviation from the general population and the surgical sample among Neurotic-reactive Depressions and Other Diagnoses. 3. A deviation from the general population and from other comparison groups (surgical cases and Other Diagnoses) among Unipolars and First Major Depressive Episodes (most of those being late episodes), with a significant excess of births during the "dark" or "cold" season of the year, especially around the winter solstice. The Bipolar group followed the same tendency, though to a lesser degree and for subjects born before 1940 only. The most significant results were found among Unipolars, which differ from the general population either by quarters (p < 0.0005) or by semesters (p < 0.0005) and from surgical cases by quarters (p < 0.01) and by semesters (p < 0.001). The results were similar for First Major Depressive episodes, although this category was theoretically "anosological". As the median age was high in this category, it might group a number of late depressive episodes, near to "involutionnal melancholia". Thus, our results seem to be relevant to the traditional endogenous-psychogenetic dichotomy, with a "cold" or "dark" seasonnality of births in the first case, and no particular seasonnality in the second case. Some former studies showed the same results, but the most significant deviation was found in mania. Our results cannot be explained by differences in the sex-ratio among the categories, and only partially by an age-incidence effect or an age-cohort effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Brochard A ，Escande M ，Schmitt L ，Granier F ，Girard M ，Charlet JP ，Moron P ... -  《ENCEPHALE-REVUE DE PSYCHIATRIE CLINIQUE BIOLOGIQUE ET THERAPEUTIQUE》

[Seasons of birth of schizophrenic patients. Retrospective study of a hospitalized population in Tunisia].

Epidemiological research concerning the seasons of births of schizophrenics show for the greatest part that there's an excess of births in winter and in the beginning of spring. Research about the environmental theories of schizophrenia suggest that there would exist one or many seasonal environmental factors affecting the foetus and the neonate, and which would be likely to increase the risk of a subsequent development of schizophrenia. As no research concerning this subject have been published so far in Africa, the writers propose to study the distribution of births of a population of schizophrenics born in Tunisia in comparison to the general population and to compare it to a group of patients hospitalized because of major affective disorders. The results achieved show a significant decrease in the number of schizophrenics births during the third trimester and an excess of births during the month of october, the risk being greater in the case of disorganized schizophrenia. The greater risk for people born in october to develop subsequently schizophrenia is not found in the case of major affective disorders but it is found rather in the case of schizo-affective disorders. More over, we notice a decrease in the number of births during the month of July for the patients presenting major affective disorders and for those presenting schizo-affective disorders. Results seem to demonstrate that there would exist seasonal environmental factors specific to North Africa which are likely to affect the subsequent appearance of schizophrenic disorders. A particular interest should be given to viral infectious to enteroviruses which are responsible for summer diarrhea in Tunisia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Khiari G ，Cheour M ，Ben Nasr S ，Bouzid R ，Tabbane K ，Douki S ... -  《ENCEPHALE-REVUE DE PSYCHIATRIE CLINIQUE BIOLOGIQUE ET THERAPEUTIQUE》

Exploring the borders of the schizoaffective spectrum: a categorical and dimensional approach.

Peralta V ，Cuesta MJ 《JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS》

The validity of schizophrenia diagnosis in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register: findings from a 10-year birth cohort sample.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the diagnostic validity of schizophrenia in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register (FHDR) with a large, epidemiologically representative sample using a multidiagnostic approach (DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, ICD-10), and to find additional criteria that could be used to improve the validity of schizophrenia diagnosis in future register-based research that utilizes the FHDR. The study population consisted of all individuals (n=877) who were born in Helsinki, Finland, between 1 January 1951 and 31 December 1960, and who had had at least one diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder or schizoaffective disorder in the FHDR. All their available hospital case notes were collected. The total number of subjects for whom case notes were obtained was 806. We used the OPCRIT system (version 3.4) to produce diagnoses according to ICD-10, DSM-III-R and DSM-IV criteria based on the information extracted from the hospital case notes. We examined the distribution of the DSM-III-R, DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnoses generated by the OPCRIT and calculated the proportion of individuals who received the same diagnosis in the FHDR and in the OPCRIT assessment. The proportion of subjects who received a core schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or schizophreniform disorder) in both the FHDR and OPCRIT assessment varied between 75% (DSM-III-R criteria) and 78% (ICD-10 criteria). Of the subjects with a narrow schizophrenia diagnosis in the FHDR, between 74% (DSM-IV) and 78% (ICD-10) received a diagnosis of schizophrenia in the reassessment depending on the diagnostic criteria applied. Eighty per cent of those who had received a core schizophrenia spectrum FHDR diagnosis after 1982 (vs. 56% of those who had received their last schizophrenia diagnosis in 1982 or before) received a DSM-IV diagnosis of core schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Of the 58 subjects in the sample who had been given at various times diagnoses of both core schizophrenia diagnosis and bipolar I diagnosis in FHDR, 43% received a core schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis according to DSM-IV criteria. The validity of the FHDR schizophrenia diagnosis is acceptable for large-scale register studies and comparable with that of other Nordic registers. Diagnostic validity can be further improved by selecting subjects who have core schizophrenia spectrum disorder as the latest diagnosis, by omitting cases diagnosed before 1982, and by excluding cases with a register diagnoses of both a core schizophrenia spectrum and bipolar I disorder.

Pihlajamaa J ，Suvisaari J ，Henriksson M ，Heilä H ，Karjalainen E ，Koskela J ，Cannon M ，Lönnqvist J ... -  《-》

[Comparative study of substance dependence comorbidity in bipolar, schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders].

Verdoux H ，Mury M ，Besançon G ，Bourgeois M ... -  《ENCEPHALE-REVUE DE PSYCHIATRIE CLINIQUE BIOLOGIQUE ET THERAPEUTIQUE》