9/12/2004
The population of young male prison inmates exhibits a considerable psychiatric morbidity, Swansea Clinical School's Professor of Psychiatry, Johannes Thome, has found.
In a recently published study in European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Prof. Thome and others reported that the prevalence of Disturbance of Activity and Attention (DAA) and Hyperkinetic Conduct Disorder (HCD) or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in young adult prison inmates is significantly elevated when compared to non-delinquent controls.
�Of the total sample, 64% suffered from at least two disorders. Only 8.5% had no psychiatric diagnoses. This indicates the urgent need for more psychiatric expertise in young offender facilities,� the authors said.
The overall prevalence of ADHD was 45%. The Prevalence of DAA and HCD was 21.7%. The most common diagnostic combinations were DAA/HCD and substance use disorder/alcoholism.
According to the authors, ADHD is a condition with widespread co-morbid disorders in childhood, adolescence and in adulthood. In adolescence and early adulthood, substance use disorder and alcoholism occur with a prevalence of 50% and more. A comparable proportion of ADHD patients display personality disorders, in particular antisocial personality disorder and impulsivity personality disorder.
�The variety of co-morbid disorders creates a complex situation, which makes it difficult to unequivocally determine the influence of each single disorder on social outcome and delinquency,� they said.
The study investigated 129 prison inmates (mean age 19.2 years), and 54 healthy male control subjects for the presence of adult ADHD and co-morbid conditions using international diagnostic criteria as well as established rating scales and clinical interviews.
The study further found a significant difference between prisoners without any childhood or adult DAA psychopathology, and prisoners suffering from persistent adult DAA or having at least evidence of childhood ADHD-related symptoms, in terms of the prevalence of theft. Theft was two times more frequent amongst the two DAA/ADHD populations than in the controls.
The authors concluded that, �it seems evident that DAA/ADHD in association with co-morbid conditions has independent and joint influences on the onset, structure and outcome of delinquent behaviours.�
| Source: | Swansea University |
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