Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data

© 2015 Schofield et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI)...

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Main Authors: Schofield, P., Malacova, E., Preen, D., D'Este, C., Tate, R., Reekie, J., Wand, H., Butler, Tony
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10945
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author Schofield, P.
Malacova, E.
Preen, D.
D'Este, C.
Tate, R.
Reekie, J.
Wand, H.
Butler, Tony
author_facet Schofield, P.
Malacova, E.
Preen, D.
D'Este, C.
Tate, R.
Reekie, J.
Wand, H.
Butler, Tony
author_sort Schofield, P.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2015 Schofield et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be a risk factor for criminal behaviour however multiple factors potentially confound the association. Methods: Record linkage and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to examine the association between hospital-recorded TBI (n = 7,694) and subsequent first criminal conviction in a retrospective cohort matched 1:3 with 22,905 unaffected community controls and full-sibling controls (n = 2,397). Aboriginality, substance abuse, social disadvantage, and mental illness were included in analyses as potential confounders Results: In multivariable models, relative to general population controls, TBI was associated with any conviction (males: Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.58 (95% CI 1.46 to 1.72); females: HR = 1.52 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.81)); and similar Hazard Ratios were obtained for the sibling analyses in males (HR = 1.68 (95% CI 1.31-2.18)) and females (HR 1.27 (95% CI 0.71-2.29)). TBI was also associated with violent convictions relative to the general population, (males: HR = 1.65 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.92); females HR = 1.73 (95% CI 1.21 to 2.47)), and in analyses with sibling controls in men (HR = 1.89 (95% CI 1.20-3.00)), but not in women (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.29-1.81)). Conclusion: The results support a modest causal link between TBI and criminality after comprehensive adjustment for confounding. Reducing the rate of TBI, a major public health imperative, might have benefits in terms of crime reduction.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-109452017-09-13T14:53:18Z Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data Schofield, P. Malacova, E. Preen, D. D'Este, C. Tate, R. Reekie, J. Wand, H. Butler, Tony © 2015 Schofield et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be a risk factor for criminal behaviour however multiple factors potentially confound the association. Methods: Record linkage and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to examine the association between hospital-recorded TBI (n = 7,694) and subsequent first criminal conviction in a retrospective cohort matched 1:3 with 22,905 unaffected community controls and full-sibling controls (n = 2,397). Aboriginality, substance abuse, social disadvantage, and mental illness were included in analyses as potential confounders Results: In multivariable models, relative to general population controls, TBI was associated with any conviction (males: Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.58 (95% CI 1.46 to 1.72); females: HR = 1.52 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.81)); and similar Hazard Ratios were obtained for the sibling analyses in males (HR = 1.68 (95% CI 1.31-2.18)) and females (HR 1.27 (95% CI 0.71-2.29)). TBI was also associated with violent convictions relative to the general population, (males: HR = 1.65 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.92); females HR = 1.73 (95% CI 1.21 to 2.47)), and in analyses with sibling controls in men (HR = 1.89 (95% CI 1.20-3.00)), but not in women (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.29-1.81)). Conclusion: The results support a modest causal link between TBI and criminality after comprehensive adjustment for confounding. Reducing the rate of TBI, a major public health imperative, might have benefits in terms of crime reduction. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10945 10.1371/journal.pone.0132558 unknown
spellingShingle Schofield, P.
Malacova, E.
Preen, D.
D'Este, C.
Tate, R.
Reekie, J.
Wand, H.
Butler, Tony
Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data
title Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data
title_full Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data
title_fullStr Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data
title_full_unstemmed Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data
title_short Does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? A whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data
title_sort does traumatic brain injury lead to criminality? a whole-population retrospective cohort study using linked data
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10945