Violence in Relation to Cognitive Deficits and Symptom Severity in a Sample of Egyptian Patients with Schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to be violent than general population; and the consequences of this violence risk are often very serious for the patients, their caregivers and the entire community. This study assesses the risk of violence in patients with schizophrenia and its correlation with severity of symptoms and cognitive functions.

There was a statistically significant difference between case and control groups regarding risk of violence assessed using HCR-20 scale; where 58% of the case group were found to have risk of violence compared to only 18 % in the control group, There was a significant correlation between this risk of violence and duration of untreated psychosis, no of episodes and history of substance use; also was significantly correlated with severity of symptoms assessed using PANSS and cognitive dysfunctions assessed using Wisconsin card sorting test subscales. Regarding logistic regression analysis for factors affecting violence risk; total PANSS score and history of substance use were significant independent factors that increase violence risk.

Violence risk in patient with schizophrenia is a cardinal factor that may affect life of the patients, their family and society; this risk can be affected by different factors including severity of symptoms, no of episodes, history of substance use and cognitive function of the patients as proven by the results of our study ;so our study recommends that proper comprehensive assessment of the violence risk in the routine psychiatric assessment is mandatory for rapid and better intervention.