Fire-setting performed in adolescence or early adulthood predicts schizophrenia: a register-based follow-up study of pre-trial offenders

Abstract

Background: Aggressive and disruptive behaviours often precede the onset of serious mental illnesses. Fire-setting is a type of crime that is associated with psychotic disorders.

Aim: The aim of this prospective follow-up study was to investigate if fire-setting performed in adolescence or early adulthood was associated with future diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Methods: The consecutive sample consisted of 111 Finnish 15–25-year old males with fire-setting crimes, decreed to a pre-trial forensic psychiatric examination in 1973–1998, and showing no past nor current psychosis at the time of examination. For each firesetter, four age-, gender-, and place of birth-matched controls were randomly selected from the Central Population Register. The subjects were followed until the death of the individual, until they moved abroad, or until the end of 2012.

Results: Fourteen firesetters (12.6%) and five controls (1.1%) were diagnosed with either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder later in life, corresponding to a hazard ratio of 12.5. The delay between the fire-setting offense and the future diagnosis was on average nearly 10 years.

Conclusions: Young male offenders undergoing a forensic psychiatric examination because of fire-setting crimes had a significant propensity for schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Accurate assessments should be made both during imprisonment and later in life to detect possible psychotic signs in these individuals.

Keywords:

• Arson
• firesetter
• schizoaffective disorder
• young adults
• youth

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the authorities of Helsinki University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and Kellokoski Hospital.

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.