ABNORMALLY LARGE BIRTH WEIGHTS OF PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

Abstract

ALTHOUGH numerous factors have been studied in relation to psychiatric disease, the patient's weight at time of birth seems to have received little attention. This is not surprising in view of the many years which elapse between birth and onset of a psychosis. Nevertheless, pathologists have noted that premature infants are susceptible to intracranial hemorrhage or anoxia during parturition. It is also well known that abnormally large babies are apt to have difficult deliveries. There is thus at least a theoretic justification for investigating the birth weights of a series of psychotic patients and comparing these weights with those for the normal population. The only psychiatric study of this type appears to be that of Benda,¹ who found that most patients with mongolism weighed 9 pounds (4,000 Gm.) or over at time of birth. A number of authors have compiled statistics on average weights at birth for unselected maternity