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/lp/ou_press/editorial-synthesizing-the-evidence-on-prisoner-health-taking-stock-XgSSznhD3Y
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2022 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- ISSN
- 0002-9262
- eISSN
- 1476-6256
- DOI
- 10.1093/aje/kwx375
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/187/6/1137/4987844 by DeepDyve user on 19 July 2022 American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 187, No. 6 © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx375 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons. Advance Access publication: org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. April 27, 2018 Editorial Editorial: Synthesizing the Evidence on Prisoner Health—Taking Stock and Moving Forward Seena Fazel* * Correspondence to Seena Fazel, University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK (e-mail: Seena.fazel@psych.ox.ac.uk). More important than the fact that 10 million people are cur- primary articles and reports was limited by country or region. rently estimated to be in prison at any point is that approximately This is reasonable when clinical heterogeneity is substantial and 30 million persons enter and leave prisons every year (1). The can be informative by focusing on clinical, research, and policy public health opportunities arising from these large numbers implications specific to the country or region. Hence, in the review have been outlined in many articles in the most recent issue of on substance use in low- and middle-income countries (11), inves- Epidemiologic Reviews; namely, that individuals entering cor- tigators reported differences by subregions and also focused on rectional settings are typically from marginalized groups who substance use rather than diagnostic categories because of the do not access health care in the community and who have a nature of the data collected in the primary studies. In another high prevalence of many communicable and noncommunic- review, the authors studied the increasingly important question of able diseases and incidence of risky behaviors. Furthermore, the health of older prisoners and restricted their search to US stud- being incarcerated increases the risks of morbidity and mortality, ies (4). Despite this restriction, 21 studies were identified, and, re- especially from conditions secondary to infectious diseases and flecting the review’s focus, there was a discussion of US national substance misuse, and thus prison affords an important oppor- policies. At the same time, this US-centric approach meant that tunity to address unmet health-care needs with substantial con- the review did not draw on high-quality research in other high- sequences for public health (2, 3). income countries, which have similar proportions of incarceration The current issue of Epidemiologic Reviews comprises a num- by age group (12, 13). For example, Skarupski et al. (4) found no ber of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in which the authors research on cognitive problems, although there has been recent address emerging challenges for prison health—delineating the relevant research on cognitive impairment from a large sample health problems of the growing number of older prisoners (4), in the United Kingdom (12). Some of the papers, however, in- understanding the adverse effects of incarceration on the fami- cluded more individual approaches. One inclusion criterion used lies of those in custody (5), and mitigating risky behaviors in by Wildeman et al. was that a primary study should have been prison (6, 7)—and synthesize the latest evidence on health pro- published in certain “peer-reviewed journals that are well- blems that remain central in prison, such as the prevalence of regarded in their respective fields” (5, p. 148). Arguably, this treatable mental disorders (8), interventions for and the model- breaks with one of the key features of a systematic review (as ing of infectious diseases (9), treatments for substance misuse compared with a narrative review), which aims to provide a com- (10), and health needs of prisoners in low- and middle-income prehensive and transparent selection process. Many reviews were countries (11). The 2 overriding themes that are apparent from limited to English-language articles, which may have led the reading these papers are 1) the methodological issues that cut authors to miss important negative studies because these are more across the different reviews and 2) the various implications aris- likely to be published in non–English-language journals. Another ing from them. issue that is that some of the systematic reviews contained a small Many of the systematic reviews in this issue follow meth- number of studies, with one including 5 primary studies and odological guidelines (such as the Preferred Reporting Items another including 7 publications. This is not in itself problem- for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and utilize excel- atic because it can highlight the need for more research and lent methods. In particular, it is important that gray literature has new recommendations. Nevertheless, a scoping review might been searched, because many relevant studies are published as have identified the likely small number of primary reports, and reports rather than in peer-reviewed articles, and that there has consideration could have been given to broadening the aims of been correspondence with the authors of the primary studies the review. A final issue that cuts across the reviews is the time to clarify results. Furthermore, authors of some reviews preregis- period utilized in the article search. One of the reviews is a 21- tered their protocols (8). In a number of reviews, the search for month update (which extends the search for primary reports 1137 Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(6):1137–1139 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/187/6/1137/4987844 by DeepDyve user on 19 July 2022 1138 Editorial from November 2015 to July 2017), and the authors identified In summary, this collection of articles highlights the public 9 new papers to bring the total to an impressive 82 primary re- health challenges and opportunities in prison health, fills some ports (14). Methodologists have considered what constitutes important gaps in the correctional health literature, and provides an update for a systematic review, which could be undertaken many thoughtful suggestions for future research. Such research when there is significant new work in a particular field (15)or should aim to study unselected prison populations and consider a doubling of the available evidence, although treatment re- utilizing innovative designs to overcome the challenges of con- views may require more regular updates (such as required by ducting research in prisons. Looking forward to new systematic the Cochrane Collaboration). Finally, the review by Spauld- reviews in prison health, researchers should include gray liter- ing et al. (7) on smoking in prisons is outstanding on many ature and non–English-language articles, consider protocol reg- istration, and explore heterogeneity carefully using subgroup levels. It has a broad and overlapping aims on prevalence and in- and metaregression analyses. Other considerations for such terventions. The methods are also excellent, including a specific reviews include checking with authors of primary studies search in a Chinese database, which some have argued should be included for any global systematic review on prevalence of com- whether their data is accurately presented (when possible) and mon conditions (16). The findings are unexpected, informative, sharing summary data in published supplemental materials (21). and highly relevant, and the importance of the topic is underscored Improvements to prison health will be informed by higher quality and complemented by another paper in the issue on substance use rather than a greater quantity of systematic reviews and meta- in prisoners in low- and middle-income countries, in which inves- analyses. tigators found high rates of smoking inside custody (11). The papers usefully raise many implications for clinicians, researchers, and policy makers. First, they provide more pre- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS cise information on the prevalence of infectious diseases, post- traumatic stress disorder, substance misuse, and, in older US Author affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University prisoners, a range of noncommunicable diseases. Interestingly, of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford United Kingdom the prevalence estimates for posttraumatic stress disorder among (Seena Fazel). female prisoners in the review by Mundt et al. (8) are at the upper S.F. was a co-author on 2 of the papers in the issue of end of the range from a previous 2007 systematic review (17). Epidemiologic Reviews being discussed (references 8 and 11). Second, there is new information on risky behaviors in prison, Conflict of interest: none declared. from smoking to tattooing, piercing, engaging in sexual activities, and syringe sharing (6). Moazen et al. 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Journal
American Journal of Epidemiology – Oxford University Press
Published: Jun 1, 2018