SEASONAL DECOMPOSITION OF INCIDENCE OF ADMISSION OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH CATATONIA IN A TERTIARY CARE NEURO-PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL IN DELHI: SEASONAL ALLERGY AS A PUTATIVE ETIOLOGICAL FACTOR

Background: Clustering of admission of patients of catatonia in time prompted us to analyse seasonal trend in the occurrence of cases of Catatonia.

Methodology: A time series of monthly number of admissions with diagnosis of catatonia was constructed for the admissions from March 2010 to March 2016. Seasonal decomposition using Additive Model with equal weights for all points and length of seasonal period as 12 was carried out to find the magnitude of seasonal factor.

Results: 31 patients of catatonia were admitted in the child ward in the last 6 years. It was seen that a low seasonal factor was seen in the months of November to January and also the month of April had low seasonal factor of - .430. These periods indicate a low risk season.

Conclusion: There appears to be a clear seasonal pattern in the occurrence of cases of Catatonia with hardly any cases in the months of November to January and no cases in the month of April. This corresponds with seasonal variation seen with seasonal allergy which needs to be studied further with a scope for potential therapeutic improvements for catatonia.