Weather and the first episode of schizophrenia

OBJECTIVE: To emphasize the effect of weather on the occurrence of the first episode of Schizophrenia.

METHODS: The relationship between weather and the first episode of schizophrenia was investigated at Ibn Sina Psychiatric Hospital, Damascus, Syria, from 1997 to 1999.

RESULTS: Schizophrenia in developing countries affects men at a higher rate than women. The highest rates are found in lower socioeconomic classes, and the first episode of the disease usually occurs in May or June, and after weather changes.

CONCLUSION: High temperature (equal or exceeding body temperature) is considered one of the outside factors of schizophrenia, however, as yet the etiology of the disease is still unknown.