The periodicities in and biometeorological relationships with bed occupancy of an acute psychiatric ward in Antwerp, Belgium

Maes, Michaël; Meyer, F. De; Peeters, Dieter; Meltzer, Herbert Y.; Schotte, Christiaan; Cosyns, Paul

doi:10.1007/bf01214385

Cited by 19 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…A true seasonality (i.e. circannual rhythms detected by spectral analysis) has also been found in other aspects of mental disorders: a common group rhythm is expressed in suicide and in bed occupancy in a psychiatric ward (17,36). In previous studies, we were unable to establish synchronous rhythms in various characteristics of nor- ma1 people (7,8).…”

Section: Seasonality and Severity Of Illnessmentioning

confidence: 83%

Seasonality in severity of depression: relationships to suicide and homicide occurrence

Maes

Meltzer

Suy

et al. 1993

Acta Psychiatr Scand

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Some previous studies have reported seasonal or monthly variations in the occurrence of depressive syndromes. The present study was carried out in order to investigate seasonality in severity of depression. Toward this end, the authors measured the Zung Self-Rating Depression (ZD) and Anxiety (ZA) Scales scores in 104 consecutively admitted depressed patients between November 1983 and April 1985. The data were analyzed by means of spectral analysis of a single time series. Up to 47.9% of the variance in the weekly average of the ZD scores could be explained by two significant rhythms of 51 (circannual) and 7 weeks. Peaks in ZD scores were observed in April-May, with lows occurring in August-September. Up to 30.8% of the variance in the weekly average of ZA scores was explained by a circannual rhythm. Our results show that there is a true seasonality in the severity of illness of depressed subjects. There were significant correlations between the weekly average in severity of illness and the chronograms of suicide (positively) and homicide (negatively) occurrence in Belgium.

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Section: Seasonality and Severity Of Illnessmentioning

confidence: 83%

Seasonality in severity of depression: relationships to suicide and homicide occurrence

Maes

Meltzer

Suy

et al. 1993

Acta Psychiatr Scand

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“…Most studies regarding psychiatric disorders and weather have assessed general variables such as overall emergency consultations (García-Carretero et al 1989;Maes et al 1994;Makie et al 2002), number of telephone calls (Driscoll and Stillman 2002;Hribersek et al 1987;Noble 1996), or suicide rates (Barker et al 1994;García et al 1991;Linkowski et al 1992;Maes et al 1993;Salib 1997;Salib and Gray 1997;Wang et al 1997). Results have been more suggestive when studying specific illnesses (schizophrenia, mania, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Panic anxiety, under the weather?

Bulbena¹,

Pailhez²,

Aceña³

et al. 2004

Int J Biometeorol

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The relationship between weather conditions and psychiatric disorders has been a continuous subject of speculation due to contradictory findings. This study attempts to further clarify this relationship by focussing on specific conditions such as panic attacks and non-panic anxiety in relation to specific meteorological variables. All psychiatric emergencies attended at a general hospital in Barcelona (Spain) during 2002 with anxiety as main complaint were classified as panic or non-panic anxiety according to strict independent and retrospective criteria. Both groups were assessed and compared with meteorological data (wind speed and direction, daily rainfall, temperature, humidity and solar radiation). Seasons and weekend days were also included as independent variables. Non-parametric statistics were used throughout since most variables do not follow a normal distribution. Logistic regression models were applied to predict days with and without the clinical condition. Episodes of panic were three times more common with the poniente wind (hot wind), twice less often with rainfall, and one and a half times more common in autumn than in other seasons. These three trends (hot wind, rainfall and autumn) were accumulative for panic episodes in a logistic regression formula. Significant reduction of episodes on weekends was found only for non-panic episodes. Panic attacks, unlike other anxiety episodes, in a psychiatric emergency department in Barcelona seem to show significant meteorotropism. Assessing specific disorders instead of overall emergencies or other variables of a more general quality could shed new light on the relationship between weather conditions and behaviour.

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“…Some of these disorders can involve accompanying effects: e.g., a higher prevalence of attempted suicide is consistently associated with depression, while violation of routine behavior and nervous tension may entail serious consequences in mental dysfunctions, such as disturbances in logical thinking, diffidence, reduction of mental concentration, relaxation of attention, etc. (Maes et al 1993;Macioca 1995;de la Rue 1955;Nkemdirim 1985;Charpin et al 1988).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of several changes in atmospheric states over semi-arid areas on the incidence of mental health disorders

et al. 2010

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The incidence of suicide attempts [Deliberate Self Harm (DSH); ICD-10: X60-X84] and psychotic attacks (PsA; ICD-10, F20-F29) in association with atmospheric states, typical for areas close to big deserts, was analyzed. A retrospective study is based on the 4,325 cases of DSH and PsA registered in the Mental Health Center (MHC) of Ben-Gurion University (Be'er-Sheva, Israel) during 2001-2003. Pearson and Spearman test correlations were used; the statistical significance was tested at p < 0.1. The influence of temperature and humidity on suicide attempts (N(SU)) and psychotic attacks (N(PS)) was weakly pronounced (p > 0.1). Correlation coefficients between N(SU) and N(PS) and speed WS of westerly wind reaches 0.3 (p < 0.05), while their dependence on easterly WS was weaker (p > 0.09). Variations in easterly wind direction WD influence N(SU) and N(PS) values (p < 0.04), but no corresponding correlation with westerly winds was found (p > 0.3). Obviously ,in transition areas located between different regions ,the main role of air streams in meteorological-biological impact can scarcely be exaggerated. An unstable balance in the internal state of a weather-sensitive person is disturbed when the atmospheric state is changed by specific desert winds, which can provoke significant perturbations in meteorological parameters. Results indicate the importance of wind direction, defining mainly the atmospheric situation in semi-arid areas: changes in direction of the easterly wind influence N(SU) and N(PS), while changes in WS are important for mental health under westerly air streams. Obviously, N(SU) and N(PS) are more affected by the disturbance of weather from its normal state, for a given season, to which the local population is accustomed, than by absolute values of meteorological parameters.

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The periodicities in and biometeorological relationships with bed occupancy of an acute psychiatric ward in Antwerp, Belgium

Cited by 19 publications

References 16 publications

Seasonality in severity of depression: relationships to suicide and homicide occurrence

Seasonality in severity of depression: relationships to suicide and homicide occurrence

Panic anxiety, under the weather?

The influence of several changes in atmospheric states over semi-arid areas on the incidence of mental health disorders

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