Hypothalamic volume in pedophilia with or without child sexual offense.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
; 273(6): 1295-1306, 2023 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36370175
ABSTRACT
The hypothalamus regulates sexual behavior and is simultaneously associated with aggression and violence. Consequently, this brain region is relevant in research of pedophilia and child sexual offenses (CSO). The distinction between these two phenomena is of great importance and was the object of consideration of this study. We analyzed exclusively men, including 73 pedophilic offenders who committed CSO, an equal number of people with pedophilia but without such offenses, and 133 non-pedophilic, non-offending subjects who formed the control group. All data were collected in a multicenter in vivo study and analyzed using a semi-automated segmentation algorithm for 3-Tesla magnetic resonance images. Men with pedophilia who committed CSO on average had a 47 mm3 smaller hypothalamus per side than people without committed CSO. This effect was driven by both the group of non-offending people with pedophilia and the control group. By contrast, the exploratory comparison of pedophilic persons without CSO with the control group showed no significant difference. The present study demonstrates a deviant hypothalamic structure as a neurobiological correlate of CSO in pedophiles, but not in people with pedophilia who have not committed CSO. Thus, it strengthens the argument to distinguish between sexual offending and paraphilic sexual preferences.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Pedofilia
/
Delitos Sexuais
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
Limite:
Child
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
Assunto da revista:
NEUROLOGIA
/
PSIQUIATRIA
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha