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- Fazel, Seena, et al.
(author)
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Neurological disorders and violence : a systematic review and meta-analysis with a focus on epilepsy and traumatic brain injury
- 2009
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In: Journal of Neurology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0340-5354 .- 1432-1459. ; 256:10, s. 1591-1602
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The objectives of this study were to systematically review and meta-analyze the research literature on the association of common neurological disorders and violence. Keywords relating to neurological disorders and violence were searched between 1966 and August 2008. Case-control and cohort studies were selected. Odds ratios of violence risk in particular disorders compared with controls were combined using fixed-effects meta-analysis with the data presented in forest plots. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to identify possible differences in risk estimates across surveys. Information on risk factors for violence was extracted if replicated in more than one study. Nine studies were identified that compared the risk of violence in epilepsy or traumatic brain injury compared with unaffected controls. For the epilepsy studies, the overall pooled odds ratio for violent outcomes was 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46-0.96]. For traumatic brain injury, the odds ratio was 1.66 (95% CI 1.12-2.31). An additional 11 case-control studies investigated factors associated with violence in epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. It was not possible to meta-analyze these data. Comorbid psychopathology was associated with violence. Data on other neurological conditions was limited and unreplicated. In conclusion, although the evidence was limited and methodological quality varied, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury appeared to differ in their risk of violence compared with control populations. Longitudinal studies are required to replicate this review's provisional findings that epilepsy is inversely associated with violence and that brain injury modestly increases the risk, and further research is needed to provide information on a broader range of risk factors.
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- Fazel, Seena, et al.
(author)
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Risk Factors for Violent Crime in Schizophrenia : A National Cohort Study of 13,806 Patients
- 2009
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In: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. - 0160-6689 .- 1555-2101. ; 70:3, s. 362-369
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: To determine risk factors for and prevalence of violent crime in patients with schizophrenia, and in particular, to explore the contribution of familial risk factors. Method: We designed a cohort study that followed up patients with 2 or more hospitalizations for schizophrenia (ICD-8, ICD-9, and ICD-10 criteria) and investigated the risk for a violent conviction using Cox proportional hazards models. All 13,806 patients with 2 hospital discharge diagnoses of schizophrenia from January 1, 1973. through December 31, 2004, in Sweden were followed until violent conviction, emigration, death, or end of follow-up (December 31, 2004), and associations with sociodemographic, individual (substance abuse comorbidity, and previous violence), and familial (parental violent crime and parental alcohol abuse) factors were examined. Results: Over an average follow-up period of 12 years, 17.1% (N = 15 19) of the men and 5.6% (N = 273) of the women with 2 or more hospitalizations for schizophrenia had a violent conviction after discharge from hospital. Familial risk factors had moderate effects, increasing the risk for violent convictions by 50% to 150%. After adjustment for sociodemographic and individual risk factors, the associations between parental violent crime and risk of violent convictions remained in men (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.65, 95% Cl = 1.33 to 2.04) and in women (adjusted HR = 1.83. 95% CI = 1.11 to 3.01), whereas parental alcohol abuse was no longer significantly associated with violent crime. Conclusion: Parental violent crime had moderate associations with violent crime in male and female offspring with at least 2 hospitalizations for schizophrenia, which were mostly stronger than the better documented sociodemographic risk factors. This suggests that familial (genetic or early environmental) risk factors have an important role in the etiology of violent offending among individuals with schizophrenia and should be considered in violence risk assessment.
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- Fazel, Seena, et al.
(author)
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Schizophrenia, substance abuse, and violent crime
- 2009
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In: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 0098-7484 .- 1538-3598. ; 301:19, s. 2016-2023
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- CONTEXT: Persons with schizophrenia are thought to be at increased risk of committing violent crime 4 to 6 times the level of general population individuals without this disorder. However, risk estimates vary substantially across studies, and considerable uncertainty exists as to what mediates this elevated risk. Despite this uncertainty, current guidelines recommend that violence risk assessment should be conducted for all patients with schizophrenia. OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk of violent crime among patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia and the role of substance abuse in mediating this risk. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Longitudinal designs were used to link data from nationwide Swedish registers of hospital admissions and criminal convictions in 1973-2006. Risk of violent crime in patients after diagnosis of schizophrenia (n = 8003) was compared with that among general population controls (n = 80 025). Potential confounders (age, sex, income, and marital and immigrant status) and mediators (substance abuse comorbidity) were measured at baseline. To study familial confounding, we also investigated risk of violence among unaffected siblings (n = 8123) of patients with schizophrenia. Information on treatment was not available. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Violent crime (any criminal conviction for homicide, assault, robbery, arson, any sexual offense, illegal threats, or intimidation). RESULTS: In patients with schizophrenia, 1054 (13.2%) had at least 1 violent offense compared with 4276 (5.3%) of general population controls (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8-2.2). The risk was mostly confined to patients with substance abuse comorbidity (of whom 27.6% committed an offense), yielding an increased risk of violent crime among such patients (adjusted OR, 4.4; 95% CI, 3.9-5.0), whereas the risk increase was small in schizophrenia patients without substance abuse comorbidity (8.5% of whom had at least 1 violent offense; adjusted OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.4; P<.001 for interaction). The risk increase among those with substance abuse comorbidity was significantly less pronounced when unaffected siblings were used as controls (28.3% of those with schizophrenia had a violent offense compared with 17.9% of their unaffected siblings; adjusted OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.4-2.4; P<.001 for interaction), suggesting significant familial (genetic or early environmental) confounding of the association between schizophrenia and violence. CONCLUSIONS: Schizophrenia was associated with an increased risk of violent crime in this longitudinal study. This association was attenuated by adjustment for substance abuse, suggesting a mediating effect. The role of risk assessment, management, and treatment in individuals with comorbidity needs further examination.
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- Fazel, Seena, et al.
(author)
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"Suicides by violent means in individuals taking SSRIs and other antidepressants: A postmortem study in Sweden, 1992-2004" : Erratum
- 2008
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In: Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. - 0271-0749. ; 28:1, s. 123-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reports an error in "Suicides by violent means in individuals taking SSRIs and other antidepressants: A postmortem study in Sweden, 1992-2004" by Seena Fazel, Martin Grann, Johan Ahlner and Guy Goodwin (Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2007[Oct], Vol 27[5], 503-506). In the article, the entire second to the last sentence in the abstract on page 503 should have been deleted. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-14520-014). A number of reports have linked consumption of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) with suicide by violent methods. We aimed to determine whether suicides with postmortem evidence of SSRI consumption are more likely to have used violent methods compared with suicides with no detectable antidepressants. Blood samples from all suicides in Sweden during 1992-2004 were examined. Suicides were classified into those who died by violence and nonviolent (self-poisoning) methods using information from police records and autopsy. In addition, we investigated proportions of violent suicide in individuals who died with detectable levels of tricyclic and other antidepressants. The sample consisted of 14,691 suicides. Of the 1958 suicides with detectable levels of SSRIs, 1247 were by violent means (63.7%) compared with 7835 of 11,045 suicides (70.9%) in antidepressant-free group (χ◊-sub-1 = 7.6; P < 0.01). We found no significant differences in the proportion of violent suicides in the SSRI group compared with the antidepressant-free group by sex or age band (15-24, 25-39, and over 40 years). When subdivided by gender and age-bands, we found specific groups with significantly lower proportions of violent suicides compared with the antidepressants-free group, including men aged 15-24 years.
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- Grann, Martin, et al.
(author)
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The association between psychiatric diagnosis and violent re-offending in adult offenders in the community
- 2008
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In: BMC Psychiatry. - 1471-244X. ; 8, s. 92-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: High rates of repeat offending are common across nations that are socially and culturally different. Although psychiatric disorders are believed to be risk factors for violent reoffending, the available evidence is sparse and liable to bias. Method: We conducted a historical cohort study in Sweden of a selected sample of 4828 offenders given community sentences who were assessed by a psychiatrist during 1988-2001, and followed up for an average of 5 years for first violent offence, death, or emigration, using information from national registers. Hazard ratios for violent offending were calculated by Cox regression models. Results: Nearly a third of the sample (n = 1506 or 31.3%) offended violently during follow-up (mean duration: 4.8 years). After adjustment for socio-demographic and criminal history variables, substance use disorders (hazard ratio 1.97, 95% CI, 1.40-2.77) and personality disorders (hazard ratio 1.71, 1.20-2.44) were significantly associated with an increased risk of violent offending. No other diagnoses were related to recidivism risk. Adding information on diagnoses of substance use and personality disorders to data recorded on age, sex, and criminal history improved only minimally the prediction of violent offending. Conclusion: Diagnoses of substance use and personality disorders are associated with the risk of subsequent violent offending in community offenders about as strongly as are its better documented demographic and criminal history risk factors. Despite this, assessment of such disorders in addition to demographic and criminal history factors enhances only minimally the prediction of violent offending in the community.
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- Långström, Niklas, et al.
(author)
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Risk factors for violent offending in autism spectrum disorder : a national study of hospitalized individuals.
- 2009
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In: Journal of Interpersonal Violence. - : SAGE Publications. - 0886-2605 .- 1552-6518. ; 24:8, s. 1358-70
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Little is known about risk factors for violence among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study uses data from Swedish longitudinal registers for all 422 individuals hospitalized with autistic disorder or Asperger syndrome during 1988-2000 and compares those committing violent or sexual offenses with those who did not. Thirty-one individuals with ASD (7%) were convicted of violent nonsexual crimes and two of sexual offenses. Violent individuals with ASD are more often male and diagnosed with Asperger syndrome rather than autistic disorder. Furthermore, comorbid psychotic and substance use disorders are associated with violent offending. We conclude that violent offending in ASD is related to similar co-occurring psychopathology as previously found among violent individuals without ASD. Although this study does not answer whether ASDs are associated with increased risk of violent offending compared with the general population, careful risk assessment and management may be indicated for some individuals with Asperger syndrome.
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