Schizophrenia after prenatal exposure to 1957 A2 influenza epidemic.

Lancet · 1991

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Abstract

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.