Abstract
A number of studies have investigated seasonality of birth in schizophrenia. Most of the studies have consistently observed an excess of winter births, often associated with decreased summer births. We postulated that psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), subclinical hallucinatory and delusional experiences, may also be affected by birth season. In the present study, we assessed the season of birth effect on the prevalence of PLEs using data from the cross-sectional survey of 19,436 Japanese adolescents. As a result, significant excess of winter births was observed in the prevalence of PLEs, accompanied by a decreased proportion of summer births. The odds ratios for the prevalence of PLEs were estimated to be 1.11, which was on the same order with those for the development of schizophrenia in the previous meta-analytic studies. To our knowledge, this is the first to show the seasonality of birth in the prevalence of PLEs and implicate the winter birth effect on subclinical stage of schizophrenia.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00787-012-0326-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.M
The odds ratios for the prevalence of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) were estimated to be 1.11, which was on the same order with those for the development of schizophrenia in the previous meta-analytic studies
The present results showed a significant excess of winter births in the prevalence of PLEs in the Japanese adolescence, accompanied by a decreased proportion of summer births especially in ‘‘heard voice’’
Summary
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00787-012-0326-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. M. Tochigi Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. A. Nishida Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Kamikitazawa 2-1-6, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan. Y. Okazaki Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, 2-1-1 Kamikitazawa, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-0057, Japan. T. Sasaki Department of Health Education, Graduate School of Education and Office for Mental Health Support, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan
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