Seasonality and affective disorders: a report from North India.
Case records of the patients with major affective disorders (ICD-10 criteria), seen over a 5 year period in a busy clinic in North India were examined for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) as per DSM-III-R criteria. In addition, seasonality of episodes of all affective disorders was also studied. Around 5.67% of the cases (n=44) retrospectively met the DSM-III-R criteria of SAD and predominant pattern was that of summer depression (n=18). There was also a consistent pattern of seasonal mania either in conjunction with seasonal depression (n=18) or in form of seasonal recurrent mania (n=11). None of the cases of depression showed any atypical vegetative features. In cases not meeting criteria for SAD (n=731), there was a trend for peaks for depressive episodes in winter followed by a smaller peak in summer months while manic episodes had peaks towards rainy and winter months. As compared to seasonal patterns of affective disorders in temperate zones, there was a general trend for opposite patterns of seasonality in SAD as well as in non-SAD. The findings are discussed in context of the climatic conditions of North India.
Avasthi
A
A
Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, 160012, Chandigarh, India. medinst@pgi.chd.nic.in
Sharma
A
A
Gupta
N
N
Kulhara
P
P
Varma
V K
VK
Malhotra
S
S
Mattoo
S K
SK
D000328:Adult; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index