ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2005
Substantial use of primary health care by prisoners: epidemiological description and possible explanations.
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Low-intensity case management increases contact with primary care in recently released prisoners: a single-blinded, multisite, randomised controlled trial.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2016Trial
- Telemedicine implementation in Austrian correctional facilities: a qualitative interview study with prison staff.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Prison Inmates: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical medicine insights. Arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Review
- Amphetamine use as a predictor of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular mortality and morbidity: a longitudinal cohort study of criminal justice clients.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
- Healthcare utilization and psychiatric morbidity in violent offenders: findings from a prospective cohort study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- Article
- The health of detainees and the role of primary care: Position paper of the European Forum for Primary Care.Primary health care research & development · 2022Review
- Challenges in providing ethically competent health care to incarcerated older adults with mental illness: a qualitative study exploring mental health professionals' perspectives in Canada.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- Healthcare in a pure gatekeeping system: utilization of primary, mental and emergency care in the prison population over time.Health & justice · 2021Article
- Attachment to primary care and team-based primary care: Retrospective cohort study of people who experienced imprisonment in Ontario.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2019Article
- Medicine in the Penal System.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2018Review
- Primary care utilization in people who experience imprisonment in Ontario, Canada: a retrospective cohort study.BMC health services research · 2018Article
- The determinants of individual health care expenditures in prison: evidence from Switzerland.BMC health services research · 2018Article
- Reduced Self-Control after 3 Months of Imprisonment; A Pilot Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
- The health care utilization of people in prison and after prison release: A population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada.PloS one · 2018Article
- Exploring differences in healthcare utilization of prisoners in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland.PloS one · 2017Article
- Health status and access to health services of female prisoners in Greece: a cross-sectional survey.BMC health services research · 2016Article
- Article
- Study Protocol: The influence of Running Therapy on executive functions and sleep of prisoners.F1000Research · 2015Article
- The case for improving the health of ex-prisoners.American journal of public health · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo describe the use of primary care services by a prisoner population so as to understand the great number of demands and therefore to plan services oriented to the specific needs of these patients.
designRetrospective cohort study of a sample of prisoners' medical records.
settingAll Belgian prisons (n = 33). PATIENTS: 513 patients over a total of 182 patient years, 3328 general practitioner (GP) contacts, 3655 reasons for encounter. MAIN
resultsPrisoners 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.
conclusionThe 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.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.