O'Callaghan E, Sham P, Takei N, Glover G, Murray R M
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
Lancet. 1991 May 25;337(8752):1248-50. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)92919-s.
The birth dates of schizophrenic inpatients in eight health regions in England and Wales were reviewed for any effect of the 1957 A2 influenza epidemic. 5 months after the peak infection prevalence, the number of births of individuals who later developed schizophrenia was 88% higher than the average number of such births in the corresponding periods of the 2 previous and the next 2 years. This finding is in accordance with a study from Helsinki and with clinical and neuropathological evidence of aberrant fetal brain development in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.
