Relationship of chronotype and sleep quality with crime in schizophrenia patients in the high-security forensic psychiatry clinic

Aim: It has been reported that schizophrenia (SZ) patients had poor sleep quality and displayed evening chronotype, and certain behavioral differences had been observed between chronotypes. In this study, we aimed to compare chronotype and sleep quality in criminal SZ patients and to examine the correlation of chronotype with crime types.Material and Methods: Ninety-one criminal SZ patients and 91 healthy controls were included. Participants were administered the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Morningness -Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ).Results: While 28.6 % of the patient group were evening-, 36.3 % were intermediate-and 35.2% waere morning-type, it was seen that 8.8% of the control group were evening-, 31.9% were intermediate-and 59.3% were morning-type, and a significant difference was observed between them (p<0.001). The sleep quality in the patient group was significantly lower than in the control group (p<0.001). In the patient group, the crime rate between 24:00 and 06:00 was found to be significantly higher among evening types compared to other types (p<0.001).Discussion: Criminal schizophrenia patients are of the evening type compared to the control group and have poor sleep quality. Corrective interventions for sleep and chronotype in SZ patients may change the rates and nature of crimes.