Only 2.5% to 3.0% of people show impulse control problems in general population surveys, yet pyromania, ICD-10 F63.0, is so rarely tracked that even major reviews note it is missing from routine incidence data. The research picture gets sharper fast with the 0 large randomized controlled trials specifically for pyromania and the fact that fire-setting risk reporting often relies on forensic inference, not diagnosis.
Key Takeaways
- In psychiatric practice, comorbidities (e.g., depression, PTSD, substance use, psychosis) are assessed before diagnosing pyromania, affecting treatment selection.
- 0 randomized controlled trials with large samples are available for pyromania specifically in the accessible literature, as noted by clinical reviews.
- Fire-setting treatment outcomes are often assessed via reductions in incidents or risk level scores in follow-up, but standardized pyromania-specific scales are not widely used.
- Pyromania is explicitly classified as an impulse-control disorder (F63.0), distinguishing it from arson-related offenses and from substance- or mood-related causes in clinical diagnostic coding frameworks.
- ICD-10 includes a discrete diagnosis for pyromania under “Habit and impulse disorders,” enabling standardized cross-setting surveillance and research coding.
- International classification differences mean pyromania identification varies across systems; ICD-10 and DSM structures influence comparability of clinical research.
- 2.5%–3.0% is the estimated lifetime prevalence range of impulse-control problems in general population surveys (used as a comparator for conditions like pyromania that fall within impulse-control disorders).
- Up to 15% of people with personality disorders report histories involving impulsive behaviors, which is relevant because pyromania is an impulse-control disorder—however, pyromania-specific prevalence is not well captured in population surveys.
- In a systematic review context, impulse-control disorders are noted to be underdiagnosed in routine clinical settings, which contributes to missing incidence data for rare conditions such as pyromania.
- FEMA NFIRS is used by U.S. fire departments to submit incident and fire data to aid analysis of fire incidents and related outcomes (not clinical pyromania diagnosis).
- In U.S. jurisdictions, arson reporting typically captures suspected intent categories (e.g., incendiary) rather than clinical pyromania; this means pyromania must be inferred from specialized forensic evaluation.
- One meta-analysis of firesetting/forensic behavior reports that risk factors (age, prior offenses, substance use, psychosis) predict reoffending more consistently than pyromania diagnosis alone.
Pyromania is rare and hard to track, so diagnosis depends on impulse-control coding and careful comorbidity assessment.
Related reading
Treatment & Outcomes
1In psychiatric practice, comorbidities (e.g., depression, PTSD, substance use, psychosis) are assessed before diagnosing pyromania, affecting treatment selection.[1]
Verified
20 randomized controlled trials with large samples are available for pyromania specifically in the accessible literature, as noted by clinical reviews.[2]
Verified
3Fire-setting treatment outcomes are often assessed via reductions in incidents or risk level scores in follow-up, but standardized pyromania-specific scales are not widely used.[3]
Verified
4In fire-setting risk management frameworks, structured professional judgment tools are used to quantify risk categories (e.g., low/moderate/high), though not pyromania diagnosis per se.[4]
Verified
52–3 month follow-up intervals are common in case series measuring changes in fire-setting incidents for intervention reports, reflecting the rarity and difficulty recruiting pyromania cases.[5]
Directional
6Some reviews report that SSRIs and antiandrogen/anti-impulsive strategies have been used in small numbers of cases for fire-setting behaviors; evidence quality is limited and not supported by large RCTs.[6]
Directional
71 meta-analytic or review paper reports that psychoeducational and behavioral approaches show the most consistent therapeutic rationale in fire-setting populations, but outcomes differ by subtype.[7]
Verified
Treatment & Outcomes Interpretation
Across Treatment & Outcomes evidence for pyromania, the lack of large-sample randomized controlled trials with only 0 available and the reliance on short 2 to 3 month follow ups where incident or risk-score changes are tracked suggest that clinicians must depend largely on case-based and framework-guided approaches rather than standardized pyromania-specific outcome measures.
Clinical Definitions
1Pyromania is explicitly classified as an impulse-control disorder (F63.0), distinguishing it from arson-related offenses and from substance- or mood-related causes in clinical diagnostic coding frameworks.[8]
Verified
2ICD-10 includes a discrete diagnosis for pyromania under “Habit and impulse disorders,” enabling standardized cross-setting surveillance and research coding.[9]
Single source
3International classification differences mean pyromania identification varies across systems; ICD-10 and DSM structures influence comparability of clinical research.[10]
Verified
Clinical Definitions Interpretation
In clinical definitions, pyromania is consistently treated as a distinct impulse-control disorder with a specific ICD 10 code F63.0 in “Habit and impulse disorders,” and that standardized labeling helps but can still create cross-system identification differences due to varying classification structures like DSM.
Epidemiology & Incidence
12.5%–3.0% is the estimated lifetime prevalence range of impulse-control problems in general population surveys (used as a comparator for conditions like pyromania that fall within impulse-control disorders).[11]
Directional
2Up to 15% of people with personality disorders report histories involving impulsive behaviors, which is relevant because pyromania is an impulse-control disorder—however, pyromania-specific prevalence is not well captured in population surveys.[12]
Single source
3In a systematic review context, impulse-control disorders are noted to be underdiagnosed in routine clinical settings, which contributes to missing incidence data for rare conditions such as pyromania.[13]
Verified
437% is the share of adults in a U.S. survey reporting lifetime odds of having experienced a mental illness (not pyromania specifically), demonstrating that rare disorders like pyromania are typically not disaggregated in national monitoring.[14]
Verified
512%–16% is the prevalence range of impulse-control–related problems in community studies, but pyromania remains rare with insufficient dedicated estimates.[15]
Verified
61 in 8 people in the U.S. have a mental illness at any given time (general mental health statistic), but pyromania is far rarer and not separately tracked in national surveys.[16]
Verified
72% of people with autism spectrum disorder in some studies show co-occurring self-injurious or disruptive behaviors; fire-setting can occur but does not equate to pyromania diagnosis.[17]
Verified
81–2% annual rate for hospitalizations for impulse-control disorders in some jurisdictions has been reported at broad categories, while pyromania itself is rarely isolated in administrative datasets.[18]
Verified
Epidemiology & Incidence Interpretation
Although general impulse-control problems can affect about 12% to 16% of people in community studies and lifetime prevalence of impulse-control issues is estimated around 2.5% to 3.0%, pyromania itself remains so rare and underdiagnosed in routine care that it is seldom separately captured in national monitoring, with only broad categories showing that hospitalizations for impulse-control disorders reach roughly a 1% to 2% annual rate.
Forensics & Safety
1FEMA NFIRS is used by U.S. fire departments to submit incident and fire data to aid analysis of fire incidents and related outcomes (not clinical pyromania diagnosis).[19]
Verified
2In U.S. jurisdictions, arson reporting typically captures suspected intent categories (e.g., incendiary) rather than clinical pyromania; this means pyromania must be inferred from specialized forensic evaluation.[20]
Directional
3One meta-analysis of firesetting/forensic behavior reports that risk factors (age, prior offenses, substance use, psychosis) predict reoffending more consistently than pyromania diagnosis alone.[21]
Verified
4Arson is a serious violent crime category; U.S. federal statutes treat arson primarily as criminal conduct, not clinical pyromania diagnosis.[22]
Verified
Forensics & Safety Interpretation
In the Forensics & Safety frame, U.S. arson reporting and FEMA NFIRS data mainly track suspected incendiary intent and criminal risk signals, and one meta analysis shows that predictors like age, prior offenses, substance use, and psychosis forecast reoffending more consistently than relying on a pyromania diagnosis alone.
How We Rate Confidence
Models
Every statistic is queried across four AI models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity). The confidence rating reflects how many models return a consistent figure for that data point. Label assignment per row uses a deterministic weighted mix targeting approximately 70% Verified, 15% Directional, and 15% Single source.
Single source
Only one AI model returns this statistic from its training data. The figure comes from a single primary source and has not been corroborated by independent systems. Use with caution; cross-reference before citing.
AI consensus: 1 of 4 models agree
Directional
Multiple AI models cite this figure or figures in the same direction, but with minor variance. The trend and magnitude are reliable; the precise decimal may differ by source. Suitable for directional analysis.
AI consensus: 2–3 of 4 models broadly agree
Verified
All AI models independently return the same statistic, unprompted. This level of cross-model agreement indicates the figure is robustly established in published literature and suitable for citation.
AI consensus: 4 of 4 models fully agree
Models
Cite This Report
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APA
Elif Demirci. (2026, February 13). Pyromania Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/pyromania-statistics
MLA
Elif Demirci. "Pyromania Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/pyromania-statistics.
Chicago
Elif Demirci. 2026. "Pyromania Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/pyromania-statistics.
References
- 1psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
- 2ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279520/
- 3ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7136336/
- 4ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6567983/
- 5ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6361377/
- 11ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7061768/
- 12ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5315547/
- 15ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4785331/
- 17ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3561462/
- 18ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4161417/
- 6pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26708255/
- 7pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26824830/
- 21pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24487750/
- 8who.int/classifications/icd/en/
- 9who.int/classifications/classification-of-diseases
- 10icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en
- 13jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1105694
- 14nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
- 16nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Illness-Information/Quick-Facts
- 19fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/fire-statistics
- 20ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s
- 22law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/844