Is there an increase of reproductive rates in schizophrenics? II. An investigation in Nordbaden (SW Germany): methods and description of the patient sample.

For an investigation on the question of whether fertility rates of schizophrenics have been increasing in recent times, two cohorts of patients were defined on an epidemiological basis. The patients were first admissions during either 1949-50 (n = 183) or 1965-67 (n = 228). The conditions of case definition as well as their demographic and psychiatric characteristics are described. These data are necessary for the evaluation of reproductive rates observed in the patient sample. Furthermore, the two cohorts of patients may be of general interest, because they comprise patients first admitted to a hospital who were completely ascertained in a certain region and time period. They reflect certain changes in hospitalization practice in Germany.