ArticleBMC public health2023
Record linkage studies of drug-related deaths among adults who were released from prison to the community: a scoping review.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Drug use among people in prison: A global review of epidemiology, harms and interventions.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Substance Misuse Treatment Processes and Outcomes as Implemented in Prisons for Men in the UK.Criminal behaviour and mental health : CBMH · 2025Pooled it
- Death by incarceration: Detention duration, overdose, and COVID-19 in Los Angeles County Jails, 2008-2023.PloS one · 2026Observational
- A mixed-method exploratory assessment of provider-based stigma of opioid use disorder (OUD) and support for medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in carceral settings.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Overdose education and naloxone distribution in jails: Examining the impact of the Communities That HEAL intervention in 4 states.Health & justice · 2025Article
- How competing needs after incarceration lead to adverse health outcomes among people who use criminalized drugs.BMC global and public health · 2025Review
- National consensus statement on opioid agonist treatment in custodial settings.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Article
- Opioid toxicity deaths in Indigenous people who experienced incarceration in Ontario, Canada 2015-2020: a whole population retrospective cohort study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Article
- Receipt of medications for opioid use disorder before and after incarceration in Massachusetts State prisons, 2014-2019.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Data linkage studies of primary care utilisation after release from prison: a scoping review.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Nation's Response to the Substance Use Crisis.North Carolina medical journal · 2024Review
- Development of a Real-Time Dashboard for Overdose Touchpoints: User-Centered Design Approach.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Unmet need for medication for opioid use disorder among persons who inject drugs in 23 U.S. cities.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Association between willingness to use an overdose prevention center and probation or parole status among people who use drugs in Rhode Island.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Creating an 11-year longitudinal substance use harm cohort from linked health and census data to analyse social drivers of health.International journal of population data science · 2024Article
- Data Resource Profile: The Enhanced Prescribing Database (EPD) in Northern Ireland.International journal of population data science · 2023Article
- Record linkage studies of primary care utilisation after release from prison: A scoping review protocol.PloS one · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere are public health concerns about an increased risk of mortality after release from prison. The objectives of this scoping review were to investigate, map and summarise evidence from record linkage studies about drug-related deaths among former adult prisoners.
methodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO and Web of Science were searched for studies (January 2011- September 2021) using keywords/index headings. Two authors independently screened all titles and abstracts using inclusion and exclusion criteria and subsequently screened full publications. Discrepancies were discussed with a third author. One author extracted data from all included publications using a data charting form. A second author independently extracted data from approximately one-third of the publications. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel sheets and cleaned for analysis. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were pooled (where possible) using a random-effects DerSimonian-Laird model in STATA.
resultsA total of 3680 publications were screened by title and abstract, and 109 publications were fully screened; 45 publications were included. The pooled drug-related SMR was 27.07 (95%CI 13.32- 55.02; I 2 = 93.99%) for the first two weeks (4 studies), 10.17 (95%CI 3.74-27.66; I 2 = 83.83%) for the first 3-4 weeks (3 studies) and 15.58 (95%CI 7.05-34.40; I 2 = 97.99%) for the first 1 year after release (3 studies) and 6.99 (95%CI 4.13-11.83; I 2 = 99.14%) for any time after release (5 studies). However, the estimates varied markedly between studies. There was considerable heterogeneity in terms of study design, study size, location, methodology and findings. Only four studies reported the use of a quality assessment checklist/technique.
conclusionsThis scoping review found an increased risk of drug-related death after release from prison, particularly during the first two weeks after release, though drug-related mortality risk remained elevated for the first year among former prisoners. Evidence synthesis was limited as only a small number of studies were suitable for pooled analyses for SMRs due to inconsistencies in study design and methodology.
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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.