Partonen T, Lönnqvist J
Department of Mental Health, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
Br J Psychiatry. 1996 Nov;169(5):641-6. doi: 10.1192/bjp.169.5.641.
In patients with bipolar disorder, admissions for manic and depressive episodes frequently display a seasonal pattern. We examined this variation and compared the patterns with the seasonal admission rates for schizophrenia.
Patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia were identified from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register of in-patient admissions to all psychiatric hospitals during the years 1969-91. They were included in the analysis if the first admission had occurred before 30 years of age. A total of 295 bipolar patients were found, and a sample of 295 schizophrenic patients was randomly selected for comparison.
There was no seasonal variation among all hospital admissions for bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. However, the first admission for a depressive compared with a manic episode of bipolar disorder occurred significantly more often in the autumn (33% v. 21% respectively). The peak difference occurred during the week after the autumnal equinox in September.
Our findings suggest that there is no seasonal variation in bipolar disorder, although in some patients the clinical course might be influenced by the autumn, as far as the likelihood of a first admission for depression is concerned.
在双相情感障碍患者中，躁狂发作和抑郁发作的入院情况经常呈现季节性模式。我们研究了这种变化，并将其模式与精神分裂症的季节性入院率进行了比较。
从1969年至1991年芬兰所有精神病医院住院患者的出院登记册中识别出双相情感障碍或精神分裂症患者。如果首次入院发生在30岁之前，则将他们纳入分析。共发现295例双相情感障碍患者，并随机抽取295例精神分裂症患者作为样本进行比较。
双相情感障碍或精神分裂症的所有医院入院病例中均无季节性变化。然而，双相情感障碍抑郁发作的首次入院比躁狂发作显著更常发生在秋季（分别为33%对21%）。峰值差异出现在9月秋分后的一周内。
我们的研究结果表明，双相情感障碍不存在季节性变化，尽管就首次因抑郁入院的可能性而言，在某些患者中临床病程可能受秋季影响。
