Wright Nat Mj, Hearty Philippa, Allgar Victoria
Clinical Research Director, Spectrum Community Health CIC, Wakefield, UK
Research Assistant, Spectrum Community Health CIC, Wakefield, UK.
BJGP Open. 2019 Jul 23;3(2). doi: 10.3399/bjgpopen19X101643. Print 2019 Jul.
The size and mean age of the prison population has increased rapidly in recent years. Prisoners are a vulnerable group who, compared with the general population, experience poorer health outcomes. However, there is a dearth of research quantifying the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among prisoner populations.
To explore both the prevalence of NCDs and their risk factors.
DESIGN & SETTING: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken that was compared with clinical records in two male prisons in the north of England.
Self-report surveys were completed by 199 prisoners to assess sociodemographic characteristics, general health, NCD prevalence, and risk factor prevalence. Data were checked against that retrieved from prison clinical records.
It was found that 46% reported at least one NCD and 26% reported at least one physical health NCD. The most common self-reported NCD was 'anxiety and depression' (34%), followed by 'respiratory disease' (17%), and 'hypertension' (10%). Having a physical health NCD was independently associated with increasing age or drug dependence.The level of agreement between clinical records and self-report ranged from 'fair' for alcohol dependence (kappa 0.38; <0.001) to 'very good' for diabetes (kappa 0.86; <0.001).
Compared with mainstream populations and despite high prevalence of risk factors for NCDs physical illness NCDs, with the exception of respiratory disease, are less common. However, poor mental health is more common. These differences are possibly owing to the younger average age of prison populations, since prevalence of risk factors was reported as high.Secondary data analysis of clinical records is a more methodologically robust way of monitoring trends in prisoner population disease prevalence.
近年来，监狱人口的规模和平均年龄迅速增长。囚犯是弱势群体，与普通人群相比，他们的健康状况较差。然而，缺乏量化囚犯群体中非传染性疾病（NCDs）患病率的研究。
探讨非传染性疾病的患病率及其危险因素。
进行了一项横断面调查，并与英格兰北部两所男性监狱的临床记录进行了比较。
199名囚犯完成了自我报告调查，以评估社会人口学特征、总体健康状况、非传染性疾病患病率和危险因素患病率。将数据与从监狱临床记录中检索到的数据进行核对。
发现46%的人报告至少患有一种非传染性疾病，26%的人报告至少患有一种身体健康方面的非传染性疾病。自我报告中最常见的非传染性疾病是“焦虑和抑郁”（34%），其次是“呼吸系统疾病”（17%）和“高血压”（10%）。患有身体健康方面的非传染性疾病与年龄增长或药物依赖独立相关。临床记录与自我报告之间的一致性水平从酒精依赖的“中等”（kappa 0.38；<0.001）到糖尿病的“非常好”（kappa 0.86；<0.001）不等。
与主流人群相比，尽管非传染性疾病的危险因素患病率很高，但除呼吸系统疾病外，身体健康方面的非传染性疾病并不常见。然而，心理健康问题更为普遍。这些差异可能是由于监狱人口的平均年龄较轻，因为危险因素的患病率据报告很高。对临床记录进行二次数据分析是监测囚犯群体疾病患病率趋势的一种方法上更可靠的方式。
