Psychiatric diagnosis on acute admission related to prevailing weather conditions.

Abstract

Psychiatric diagnosis on acute admission in large psychiatric hospital was examined in relation to the weather conditions prevailing at the time of admission. This was done by a retrospective search of patients' records over a 13-month period. A clear relationship was found between wind direction and admissions in a number of diagnostic categories, and similar, though less dramatic, relationships were noted between admission categories and rainfall, prevailing temperature, and sunshine duration.