The prevalence of thyroid disorders among sexual and violent offenders and their co‐occurrence with psychological symptoms

Abstract

The prevalence of thyroid abnormalities among 831 sexual, violent, and non‐violent non‐sex offenders was found to be greater than found in the general population. Thyroid abnormalities were most common among violent offenders and among sex offenders who victimized children. Thyroid disorders were associated with psychotic diagnoses, delusions, mania, suicidal thoughts, and showed a trend to more suicide attempts. These disorders were undiagnosed in 49.1% of the cases prior to the present clinical assessment. Of these, 59.3% faced their first criminal charges, and the undiagnosed thyroid abnormalities may be important in the offenders’ treatment and may be possible legal mitigating factors in some offenses. Results indicate that a routine endocrine evaluation with blood tests would be a valuable addition to the assessment of violent and sexual offenders.