Leukefeld Carl G, Hiller Matthew L, Webster J Matthew, Tindall Michele Staton, Martin Steven S, Duvall Jamieson, Tolbert Valerie E, Garrity Thomas F
Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, 643 Maxwelton Court, Lexington, KY 40506-0350, USA.
J Behav Health Serv Res. 2006 Jan;33(1):73-85. doi: 10.1007/s11414-005-9006-y.
The use of health services by prisoners during their incarceration and after their return to the community impacts the U.S. health care system and health care costs associated with this system. These health care costs are expected to increase over the next decade as more prisoners return to their communities. The current study prospectively examines the use of high-cost health care services-emergency room visits and hospitalizations-among 565 male drug-abusing prisoners about 1 year after prison release. A series of structural equation models were used to examine predisposing factors, including health status and drug use, and to estimate the frequency of high-cost health service utilization. As expected, health status was the most robust predictor of high-cost health services. However, the finding that drug abuse had nonsignificant relationships with high-cost health services utilization was not expected. Discussion focuses on health care service issues and health problems as prisoners' transition from prison to the community.
囚犯在监禁期间及重返社区后对医疗服务的使用会影响美国医疗系统以及与该系统相关的医疗成本。随着更多囚犯重返社区，预计未来十年这些医疗成本将会增加。本项研究前瞻性地调查了565名男性吸毒囚犯在出狱约1年后使用高成本医疗服务（急诊就诊和住院）的情况。一系列结构方程模型被用于检验包括健康状况和药物使用在内的诱发因素，并估计高成本医疗服务的使用频率。正如预期的那样，健康状况是高成本医疗服务最有力的预测因素。然而，药物滥用与高成本医疗服务使用之间无显著关系这一发现却出乎意料。讨论聚焦于囚犯从监狱过渡到社区过程中的医疗服务问题和健康问题。
