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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Forensic Psychiatry
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1455343

Mortality among individuals with substance use disorderdoes violent criminal behaviour have an impact?

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Understanding violent criminality and its impact on health and eventually the risk of premature mortality is important for efficient future interventions. This study aimed to explore the effect violent criminality had on premature mortality (i.e. death before the age of 65) among individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs). The cohort was created by identifying all Swedish patients diagnosed with SUD between the first of January 2013 and 31 st of December 2014. The individuals were split into three age-categories. There were significant differences in standard mortality rates (SMR) in the cohort compared to the general Swedish population across the three age categories. We found differences between the SMRs for individuals convicted of violent and non-violent crimes in the two younger age categories (Age 15-29: Violent crime (42.4) vs Non-violent crime (36.6), Age 30-44: Violent crime (28.0) vs Non-violent crime (23.0). A Cox-regression analysis showed that each conviction of a violent crime increased the hazard ratio (HR) of premature mortality significantly (Age 15-29; HR = 1.10 (95% CI 1.04 -1.17), Age 30-44; HR =1.06 (95% CI 1.03 -1.09)). After correcting for non-violent crimes, the increased risk only remained for the youngest group (HR = 1.06 (95% CI 1.00-1.13)).This study suggests that criminal behaviour constitutes a proxy for the risk behaviours that increase the risk of premature mortality among young individuals with SUD even after controlling for confounders. Longitudinal studies, examining time-dependent risks and protective influences, are needed to explain the different pathways and processes leading to the amplified premature mortality in the groups.

    Keywords: Violent offending, Mortality, substance use disorder, Psychiatry, Somatic disease, Preterm mortality

    Received: 26 Jun 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jakobsson, Karlsson, Hakansson and Hofvander. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Martin Joakim Jakobsson, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

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