Female Psychopathy and Mortality

Olli Vaurio; Markku Lähteenvuo; Hannu Kautiainen; Eila Repo-Tiihonen; Jari Tiihonen

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.831410

Female Psychopathy and Mortality

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Mar 10:13:831410. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.831410. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Olli Vaurio¹, Markku Lähteenvuo¹, Hannu Kautiainen^{2

3}, Eila Repo-Tiihonen¹, Jari Tiihonen^{1

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
² Unit of Primary Care, Helsinki University Central Hospital, University of Helsinki, Stockholm City Council, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Department of General Practice, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Center for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm City Council, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Abstract

The mortality of female psychopaths has scarcely been investigated. To estimate the association between psychopathy and mortality, data from subjects having been in forensic psychiatric assessments at Niuvanniemi Hospital during 1984-1993 were linked to the data from the National Death Registry. Sixteen psychopathic females scoring 25 points or higher in the PCL-R scale (psychopaths) were followed up for a median (IQR) 21 (17-25) years and 41 offenders scoring <25 on the PCL-R (non-psychopathic offenders) for 22 (17-25) years. In both psychopath and non-psychopath offender groups, the mortality was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than in the general population, being over 12-fold among psychopathic and over 6-fold among the non-psychopathic offenders.

Keywords: PCL-R; causes of death; forensic science; mortality; psychopathy.