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SEASONAL FLUCTUATION OF PSYCHIATRIC ADMISSIONS, BASED ON THE DATA FOR 7 PREFECTURES OF JAPAN FOR A 7‐YEAR‐PERIOD 1955–1961, WITH A REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Author(s) -
Abe Kazuhiko
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1963.tb00686.x
Subject(s) - incidence (geometry) , latitude , period (music) , seasonality , demography , low latitude , locality , geography , climatology , psychiatry , medicine , mathematics , statistics , physics , geology , geodesy , sociology , linguistics , philosophy , geometry , acoustics
Summary 1) The author selected 7 out of 48 prefectures of Japan, where the psychiatric admission is less likely to be delayed, and indicates the change in the “incidence” of psychoses relatively exactly. The admission in these districts show seasonal fluctuations similar to those reported by earlier investigators for European and American cities. The admission increases in spring and usually reaches the maximum sometime in between April and July, and then gradually decreases towards winter, with or without a smaller peak in autumn. Further, the shape of these seasonal fluctuation has been analyzed statistically, and has been correlated to the latitude of the locality. The result indicates that in lower latitudes, the increase in admissions in the second trimester is faster and the maximum is earlier than in higher latitudes. 2) The admissions of manic‐depressive show generally a more marked fluctuation (larger amplitude) and reach the maximum earlier, in comparison to schizophrenics of the same locality. Two possible explanations have been mentioned.