Faustman W O, Bono M A, Moses J A, Csernansky J G
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 1992 Oct;180(10):644-8. doi: 10.1097/00005053-199210000-00006.
Repeated studies suggest a relationship between winter birth and increased incidence of schizophrenia. Furthermore, there may be seasonal fluctuations in schizophrenia risk factors (e.g., influenza epidemics) and the severity of biological anomalies (e.g., enlarged cerebral ventricles in neuroimaging studies). In order to assess whether winter-born schizophrenics show greater neuropsychological impairment, 112 males meeting Research Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia were administered the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, a thorough measure of higher cortical functioning deficit. Sixty-four of these 112 patients were also administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, the Benton Visual Retention Test, and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Despite the use of several definitions of winter and nonwinter birth, there was no evidence of elevated rates of neuropsychological dysfunction among winter-born patients on any measure. The current study contains certain limitations (e.g., variable medication status at testing), but the results suggest no strong season of birth relationship with neuropsychological impairment in a reasonably large, research-diagnosed sample of schizophrenic patients.
反复研究表明冬季出生与精神分裂症发病率增加之间存在关联。此外，精神分裂症的风险因素（如流感流行）和生物学异常的严重程度（如神经影像学研究中脑室内径增大）可能存在季节性波动。为了评估冬季出生的精神分裂症患者是否表现出更严重的神经心理损害，对112名符合精神分裂症研究诊断标准的男性进行了鲁利亚-内布拉斯加神经心理成套测验，这是一种对高级皮质功能缺陷的全面测量。这112名患者中的64人还接受了韦氏成人智力量表修订版、本顿视觉保持测验和雷伊听觉词语学习测验。尽管对冬季出生和非冬季出生采用了多种定义，但在任何测量中都没有证据表明冬季出生的患者神经心理功能障碍发生率升高。本研究存在一定局限性（如测试时用药情况不一），但结果表明，在一个相当大的、经研究诊断的精神分裂症患者样本中，出生季节与神经心理损害之间没有强烈关联。
