Seasonality and affective disorders: a report from North India

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 145 - 154
• Main Authors: Avasthi, Ajit, Sharma, Avneet, Gupta, Nitin, Kulhara, Parmanand, Varma, Vijoy K, Malhotra, Savita, Mattoo, Surendra K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.05.2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affective disorder; Biological and medical sciences; Catchment Area (Health); Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder, Major - epidemiology; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Female; Humans; Incidence; India - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; Mood disorders; Prevalence; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Retrospective Studies; Seasonal Affective Disorder; Seasonal Affective Disorder - diagnosis; Seasonal Affective Disorder - epidemiology; Seasonal Affective Disorder - psychology; Seasonality; Severity of Illness Index; Tropical medicine; Asia; India; Affective disorder; Seasonal Affective Disorder; Seasonality; Mood disorder; Social environment; Human; Prevalence; Mental health; Depression; Nosology; Revised drafting; Retrospective; Climatic condition; Symptomatology; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III; Criterion; Sociodemographic factor; Seasonal variation; Classification; Mania; Evolution; Severity score; Diagnosis; Comparative study; Public health
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/S0165-0327(00)00239-1

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.