A Longitudinal Study of Resting Heart Rate and Violent Criminality in More Than 700 000 Men

Low resting heart rate is a well-replicated physiological correlate of aggressive and antisocial behavior in children and adolescents, but whether low resting heart rate increases the risk of violence and other antisocial and risk-taking behaviors in adulthood has not been studied in representative samples.

To study the predictive association of resting heart rate with violent and nonviolent criminality and with fatal and nonfatal injuries owing to assaults and unintentional injuries in the population.

We conducted a study of data from several Swedish national registers on 710 264 Swedish men in the general population born from 1958 to 1991, with a follow-up of up to 35.7 years. Outcome data were available and analyzed from January 1, 1973, through December 31, 2009. Resting heart rate was measured together with blood pressure at mandatory military conscription testing at a mean (SD) age of 18.2 (0.5) years.

In models adjusted for physical, cardiovascular, psychiatric, cognitive, and socioeconomic covariates, compared with 139 511 men in the highest quintile of the distribution of resting heart rate (≥83 beats/min), 132 595 men with the lowest quintile (heart rate, ≤60 beats/min) had a 39% (95% CI, 35%-44%) higher hazard of being convicted of violent crimes and a 25% (95% CI, 23%-28%) higher hazard of being convicted of nonviolent crimes. The corresponding hazard was 39% higher for assault injuries (95% CI, 33%-46%) and for unintentional injuries (95% CI, 38%-41%). Further adjustment for cardiorespiratory fitness in a subset of 572 610 men with data from an exercise test did not reduce the associations. Similar associations were found between low systolic blood pressure and violent and nonviolent criminality and for assault injuries when systolic blood pressure was studied instead of resting heart rate in more than 1 million men.

Among men, low resting heart rate in late adolescence was associated with an increased risk for violent criminality, nonviolent criminality, exposure to assault, and unintentional injury in adulthood. Most of these results were replicated with low systolic blood pressure. Resting heart rate and other autonomic measures merit further study in the development and prevention of violence and antisocial behavior.

Via:  http://ht.ly/S89W9

By: Latvala A1, Kuja-Halkola R2, Almqvist C3, Larsson H2, Lichtenstein P2.

• 1Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden2Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
• 2Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
• 3Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden3Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Lung and Allergy Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

Less Is More Using Static-2002R Subscales to Predict Violent and General Recidivism among Sexual Offenders

Given that sexual offenders are more likely to reoffend with a nonsexual offence than a sexual offence, it is useful to have risk scales that predict general recidivism among sexual offenders. 

In the current study, we examined the extent to which two commonly used risk scales for sexual offenders (Static-99R and Static-2002R) predict violent and general recidivism, and whether it would be possible to improve predictive accuracy for these outcomes by revising their items. Based on an aggregated sample of 3,536 adult male sex offenders from Canada, US, and Europe (average age of 39 years), we found that a scale created from age at release and the general criminality subscale of Static-2002R predicted nonsexual violent, any violent, and general recidivism significantly better than Static-99R or Static-2002R total scores. 

The convergent validity of this new scale (Brief Assessment of Recidivism Risk – 2002R; BARR-2002R) was examined in a new, independent dataset of Canadian high risk adult male sex offenders (N = 360) where it was found to be highly correlated with other risk assessment tools for general recidivism and the PCL-R, and demonstrated similar discrimination and calibration as in the development sample. Instead of using total scores from the Static-99R or Static-2002R, we recommend that evaluators use the BARR-2002R for predicting violent and general recidivism among sex offenders, and for screening for the psychological dimension of antisocial orientation. 

Via (PDF): http://goo.gl/mRyVl7

By: Kelly M. Babchishin
University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Royal Ottawa Hospital