Historique
Article de Périodique
Substantial use of primary health care by prisoners: epidemiological description and possible explanations (2005)
Auteur(s) :
FERON, J. ;
PAULUS D. ;
TONGLET R. ;
LORANT, V. ;
PESTIAUX D.
Année
2005
Page(s) :
651-655
Langue(s) :
Anglais
Refs biblio. :
19
Domaine :
Drogues illicites / Illicit drugs
Thésaurus mots-clés
PRISON
;
EPIDEMIOLOGIE DESCRIPTIVE
;
ACCES AUX SOINS
;
ENQUETE
;
ETUDE RETROSPECTIVE
;
MEDECIN GENERALISTE
;
SANTE
;
PRESCRIPTION MEDICALE
;
PRODUIT ILLICITE
;
PATHOLOGIE ORGANIQUE
Résumé :
Design: Retrospective cohort study of a sample of prisoners medical records. Setting: All Belgian prisons (n = 33). Patients: 513 patients over a total of 182 patient years, 3328 gneral practitioner (GP) contacts, 3655 reasons for encounter. Main results: Prisoners consulted the GP 17 times a year on average (95%CI 15 to 19.4). It is 3.8 times more than a demographically equivalent population in the community. The most common reasons for encounter were administrative procedures (22%) followed by psychological (13.1%), respiratory (12.9%), digestive (12.5%), musculoskeletal (12%), and skin problems (7.7%). Psychological reasons for consultations (n = 481) involved mainly (71%) feeling anxious, sleep disturbance, and prescription of psychoactive drugs. Many other visits concerned common problems that in other circumstances would not require any physician intervention. Conclusion: The most probable explanations for the substantial use of primary care in prison are the health status (many similarities noted between health problems at the admission and reasons for consultations during the prison term: mental health problems and health problems related to drug misuse), lack of access to informal health services (many contacts for common problems), prison rules (many consultations for administrative procedures), and mental health problems related to the difficulties of life in prison.
Affiliation :
Centre Universitaire de Médecine Générale, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgique