Mortality in women with a history of incarceration in Norway: a 20-year national cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Women carry a substantial burden of psychiatric, somatic and lifestyle-related morbidity in the prison context. By describing causes of death and estimating the risk and burden of mortality compared with the general population, this study investigates how mortality operates in this highly marginalized and under-researched population. METHODS: In this registry-based study of all women incarcerated in Norwegian prisons from 2000 to 2019 (N = 11 313), we calculated crude mortality rates, years of lost life and, by using mortality in age-matched women from the general population as a reference, age-standardized mortality ratios and years of lost life rates. RESULTS: Over a mean follow-up time of 10.7 years, at a median age of 50 years, 9% of the population had died (n = 1005). Most deaths (80%) were premature deaths from an avoidable cause. Drug-induced causes and deaths from major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were most frequent (both 32%). Compared with women in the general population, women with a history of incarceration were more likely to die from any cause. Trends in annual age-standardized years of lost life rates suggest that the mortality burden associated with major NCDs has gradually replaced drug-induced causes. CONCLUSIONS: Women with a history of incarceration die at a greater rate than their peers and largely from avoidable causes. The profile of causes contributing to the substantial burden of mortality placed on this population has changed over time and has important implications for future efforts to reduce morbidity and the risk of premature death following release from prison.

Conduct disorder - a comprehensive exploration of comorbidity patterns, genetic and environmental risk factors.

Conduct disorder (CD), a common mental disorder in children and adolescents, is characterized by antisocial behavior. Despite similarities with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and possible diagnostic continuity, CD has been shown to precede a range of adult-onset mental disorders. Additionally, little is known about the putative shared genetic liability between CD and adult-onset mental disorders and the underlying gene-environment interplay. Here, we interrogated comorbidity between CD and other mental disorders from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (n = 114 500) and investigated how polygenic risk scores (PRS) for mental health traits were associated with CD/CD traits in childhood and adolescence. Gene-environment interplay patterns for CD was explored with data on bullying and parental education. We found CD to be comorbid with several child and adult-onset mental disorders. This phenotypic overlap corresponded with associations between PRS for mental disorders and CD. Additionally, our findings support an additive gene-environment model. Previously conceptualized as a precursor of ASPD, we found that CD was associated with polygenic risk for several child- and adult-onset mental disorders. High comorbidity of CD with other psychiatric disorders reflected on the genetic level should inform research studies, diagnostic assessments and clinical follow-up of this heterogenous group.

Common genetic and environmental risk for personality disorders and psychotic-like experiences in young adult twins.

INTRODUCTION: Psychotic-like experiences (PLE) have been associated with the subsequent emergence of psychotic disorders as well as several other domains of psychopathology. In this twin study, we estimated the genetic and environmental correlations between PLE and 10 personality disorders (PD). METHODS: Diagnoses of 10 PDs according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) and PLE from the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) were retrieved for 2793 young adult twins from the Norwegian Twin Registry. Risk for having a PD and PLEs was modeled using item response theory. Biometric twin models were fitted to estimate the genetic and environmental correlations between PDs and PLEs. Co-twin control analysis was performed to estimate additional within-family risk for PLEs when having a PD. RESULTS: Phenotypic overlap between PDs and PLEs ranged from 14% to 44% in males and from 11% to 39% in females, with the highest overlap for borderline PD in both sexes. In general, we found higher genetic correlations (r = 0.14-0.72) than environmental correlations (r = 0.06-0.28) between PDs and PLEs. The highest genetic correlations between PLE and PDs were found for borderline (r = 0.72), paranoid (r = 0.56), schizotypal (r = 0.56) and antisocial PD (r = 0.49). CONCLUSION: We found that the co-occurrence between PDs and PLE is the best explained by shared genetic determinants, with minor contributions from environmental factors. Interestingly, borderline PD was highly genetically correlated with PLE, warranting molecular genetic studies of this association.

Psychiatric morbidity among women in Norwegian prisons, 2010-2019: a register-based study.

PURPOSE: Research suggests that women in prison have more mental health problems than men and are prone to suffer from more severe psychiatric disorders. This study utilizes national registry data to describe demographic and psychiatric gender differences in Norwegian prisons, and to investigate comorbid psychiatric disorders and time trends in psychiatric morbidity among women. METHODS: Longitudinal data from the Norwegian Prison Release Study linked with the Norwegian Patient Registry and data from Statistics Norway provided information on health care utilization, socioeconomic status, and history of psychiatric disorders among all individuals (nwomen = 5,429; nmen = 45,432) who were incarcerated in a Norwegian prison between 2010 and 2019. RESULTS: Women were more likely than men to have a history of any psychiatric disorder (75% vs. 59%). Substance use disorders and dual disorders were highly prevalent in both genders, yet highest among women (56 and 38% respectively, versus 43 and 24% among men). From 2010 to 2019, we found a considerable increase in the 12-month prevalence of most diagnostic categories among women entering prison. CONCLUSION: Psychiatric and dual disorders are highly prevalent in Norwegian prisons, and especially among women. The proportion of women entering prison with a recent history of mental health problems has increased rapidly over the last decade. Women's prison institutions need to adjust health and social services, and awareness about substance use and other psychiatric disorders in order to meet the increasing proportion of women facing these challenges.

Blowing in the wind? Testing the effect of weather on the spatial distribution of crime using Generalized Additive Models.

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is situated in a North European cool climate zone. We investigate the effect of weather on the overall level of crime in the city, as well as the impact of different aspects of weather (temperature, wind speed, precipitation) on the spatial distribution of crime, net of both total level of crime, time of day and seasonality. Geocoded locations of criminal offences were combined with data on temperature, wind speed, and precipitation. Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) allowed us to map level of and the spatial distribution of crime, and how it was impacted by weather, in a more robust manner than in previous studies. There was slightly more crime in pleasurable weather (i.e. low precipitation and wind speed and high temperatures). However, neither temperature, precipitation nor wind speed impacted the spatial distribution of crime in the city. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40163-022-00171-2.

PriSUD-Nordic-Diagnosing and Treating Substance Use Disorders in the Prison Population: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: A large proportion of the prison population experiences substance use disorders (SUDs), which are associated with poor physical and mental health, social marginalization, and economic disadvantage. Despite the global situation characterized by the incarceration of large numbers of people with SUD and the health problems associated with SUD, people in prison are underrepresented in public health research. OBJECTIVE: The overall objective of the PriSUD (Diagnosing and Treating Substance Use Disorders in Prison)-Nordic project is to develop new knowledge that will contribute to better mental and physical health, improved quality of life, and better life expectancies among people with SUD in prison. METHODS: PriSUD-Nordic is based on a multidisciplinary mixed method approach, including the methodological perspectives of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The qualitative part includes ethnographic fieldwork and semistructured interviews. The quantitative part is a registry-based cohort study including national registry data from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The national prison cohorts will comprise approximately 500,000 individuals and include all people imprisoned in Norway, Sweden, and Demark during the period from 2000 to 2019. The project will investigate the prison population during three different time periods: before imprisonment, during imprisonment, and after release. RESULTS: PriSUD-Nordic was funded by The Research Council of Norway in December 2019, and funding started in 2020. Data collection is ongoing and will be completed in the first quarter of 2022. Data will be analyzed in spring 2022 and the results will be disseminated in 2022-2023. The PriSUD-Nordic project has formal ethical approval related to all work packages. CONCLUSIONS: PriSUD-Nordic will be the first research project to investigate the epidemiology and the lived experiences of people with SUD in the Nordic prison population. Successful research in this field will have the potential to identify significant areas of benefit and will have important implications for ongoing policy related to interventions for SUD in the prison population. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/35182.

Testing the Static-99R as a Global Screen for Risk of Sex Crime Recidivism in a Norwegian Routine Sample.

The Static-99R has been recommended for use as a first global screen for sorting out sex-convicted persons who are in need of further risk assessment. This study investigated the Static-99R's predictive validity based on a nonselected Norwegian sample (n = 858) of persons released from prison after having served a sex crime sentence. After a mean observation period of 2,183 days, 3.4% (n = 29) had recidivated to a new sex offense. A higher number of recidivists were found among those with higher Static-99R total scores. The predictive contribution from each of the ten Static-99R risk items was investigated using standard logistic regression, proportional hazard regression, and random forest classification algorithm. The overall results indicate that the Static-99R is relevant as a risk screen in a Norwegian context, providing similar results concerning predictive accuracy as previous studies.

If it works there, will it work here? The effect of a multi-component responsible beverage service (RBS) programme on violence in Oslo.

BACKGROUND: The Stockholm Prevents Alcohol and Drug Problems (STAD) programme has been regarded as one of the most successful programmes to date, in reducing alcohol-related violence. This multi-component Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) programme was implemented in Stockholm, Sweden, and has been documented to be extremely effective in reducing alcohol-related nightlife violence. The SALUTT programme in Oslo, Norway was carefully modelled on the STAD project. AIM: We investigate whether the results from STAD were replicated in the SALUTT intervention. DESIGN: Using geocoded data, the level of violence in the intervention area was compared with different control areas before and after the intervention. STATISTICS: Autoregressive moving average models (ARIMA). FINDINGS: The SALUTT programme had no statistically significant effect on violence. However, the level of violence in the different potential control areas of Oslo fluctuated without a clear common trend. Hence, it was difficult to establish proper control areas. CONCLUSIONS: The results from the Swedish STAD-intervention were not replicated in Oslo. Successful interventions are not necessarily replicated in other contexts, and the current literature does not shed sufficient light on the conditions under which such interventions actually work. Moreover, more attention should be devoted to the identification of adequate control areas in future research.

Relative mortality among criminals in Norway and the relation to drug and alcohol related offenses.

BACKGROUND: Registered offenders are known to have a higher mortality rate, but given the high proportion of offenders with drug-addiction, particularly among offenders with a custodial sentence, higher mortality is expected. While the level of overall mortality compared to the non-criminal population is of interest in itself, we also estimate the risk of death by criminal records related to substance abuse and other types of criminal acts, and separate between those who receive a prison sentence or not. METHODS: Age-adjusted relative risks of death for 2000-2008 were studied in a population based dataset. Our dataset comprise the total Norwegian population of 2.9 million individuals aged 15-69 years old in 1999, of whom 10% had a criminal record in the 1992-1999 period. RESULTS: Individuals with a criminal record have twice the relative risk (RR) of death of the control group (non-offenders). Males with a record of use/possession of drugs and a prison record have an 11.9 RR (females, 15.6); males with a drug record but no prison record have a 6.9 RR (females 10.5). Males imprisoned for driving under the influence of substances have a 4.4 RR (females 5.6); males with a record of driving under the influence but no prison sentence have a 3.2 RR (females 6.5). Other male offenders with a prison record have a 2.8 RR (females 3.7); other male offenders with no prison record have a 1.7 RR (females 2.3). CONCLUSION: Significantly higher mortality was found for people with a criminal record, also for those without any record of drug use. Mortality is much higher for those convicted of substance-related crimes: more so for drug- than for alcohol-related crimes and for women.

Cannabis and crime: findings from a longitudinal study.

AIM: To examine the association between cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood, and subsequent criminal charges. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Young in Norway Longitudinal Study. A population-based sample (n = 1353) was followed from 13 to 27 years of age. Data were gathered on cannabis use, alcohol consumption and alcohol problems, and use of other illegal substances such as amphetamines, cocaine and opiates. In addition, extensive information on socio-demographic, family and personal factors was collected. This data set was linked to individual-level information from official Norwegian crime statistics. FINDINGS: We found robust associations between cannabis use and later registered criminal charges, both in adolescence and in young adulthood. These associations were adjusted for a range of confounding factors, such as family socio-economic background, parental support and monitoring, educational achievement and career, previous criminal charges, conduct problems and history of cohabitation and marriage. In separate models, we controlled for alcohol measures and for use of other illegal substances. After adjustment, we still found strong associations between cannabis use and later criminal charges. However, when eliminating all types of drug-specific charges from our models, we no longer observed any significant association with cannabis use. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that cannabis use in adolescence and early adulthood may be associated with subsequent involvement in criminal activity. However, the bulk of this involvement seems to be related to various types of drug-specific crime. Thus, the association seems to rest on the fact that use, possession and distribution of drugs such as cannabis is illegal. The study strengthens concerns about the laws relating to the use, possession and distribution of cannabis.