Season of birth and schneider-oriented diagnosis of schizophrenia, “Neurosis” and psychopathy

  • Karl Koehler
  • Ch. Jacoby
Article
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Summary

Most earlier studies and all studies on national samples in Scandinavia and in England and Wales have shown that schizophrenics have a significant excess of births in the winter or early months of the year when compared with the expected distribution of the normal population. The present German study, carried out on schizophrenic patients diagnosed in a strongly Kurt Schneider-oriented clinic, in contrast to almost all other authors, demonstrated no such significant overrepresentation of births in the winter months. Thus, the findings of Danneel's (1973) German report, also utilizing Schneider-diagnosed schizophrenics, seem, at least for the present, to be confirmed.

Key words

Season of Birth Schizophrenia “Neurosis” Psychopathy 

Zusammenfassung

Die meisten früheren, wie auch alle anderen nationalen Studien in Skandinavien, England und Wales zeigten, daß Schizophrene in den Wintermonaten eine signifikant höhere Geburtenfrequenz in Vergleich mit der erwarteten Häufigkeit der Normalpopulation aufweisen. In der jetzigen Studie, durchgeführt an Schizophrenen, die an einer stark K. Schneider-orientierten deutschen Klinik diagnostiziert wurden, fand man — in Gegensatz zu fast allen anderen Autoren — keine solche signifikant erhöhte Geburtenfrequenz in den Wintermonaten. Dadurch wurden die Ergebnisse der vor kurzem erschienenen deutschen Stichprobe von Danneel (1973) vorläufig bestätigt.

Schlüsselwörter

Geburtsmonat Schizophrenie „Neurose“ Psychopathie 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1976

Authors and Affiliations

  • Karl Koehler
    • 1
  • Ch. Jacoby
    • 1
  1. 1.Universitäts-NervenklinikHomburgGermany

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