White matter lesions and season of birth of patients with bipolar affective disorder.
OBJECTIVE
It is established that patients with bipolar disorder have an excess of births in winter or early spring. The authors investigated a link between season of birth and white matter lesions with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).


METHODS
T(2)-weighted and proton density MRI scans were examined for 79 patients with bipolar disorder (DSM-IV) for the presence of deep subcortical and periventricular white matter lesions. The birth seasons of patients with white matter lesions were compared with those of the general population.


RESULTS
Thirteen subjects exhibited deep subcortical white matter lesions, of whom nine (69.2%) were born in the winter months (January to March). Seven of these patients remained symptomatic, despite adequate treatment for more than 2 years.


CONCLUSIONS
Birth season, illness outcome, and deep subcortical white matter lesions appear to be closely linked. Deep subcortical white matter lesions may be a marker of a toxic or infective insult in utero.
Moore
P B
PB
Department of Neuroradiology, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. p.b.moore@ncl.ac.uk
El-Badri
S M
SM
Cousins
D
D
Shepherd
D J
DJ
Young
A H
AH
McAllister
V L
VL
Ferrier
I N
IN
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D001723:Birth Rate; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012621:Seasons; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
D015415:Biomarkers