Infectious Disease

Incarceration Charges Related to Elevated Threat of Untimely Loss of life

March 02, 2021

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Kajeepeta does not report any relevant financial information. In the study you will find all relevant financial information from all other authors.

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Increased incarceration rates in U.S. states have been linked to increased risk of death from infectious diseases, chronic lower respiratory diseases, substance abuse, suicide, and many other causes, according to a study published in Lancet Public Health.

“Our results underscore the public health benefits of reducing prison incarceration and the importance of measures to reduce the harmful effects of mass incarceration on the health of the population, including community-based treatment of substance use disorders and greater investment in social services.” Sandhya Kajeepeta, A graduate student in the epidemiology department of Columbia Mailman School of Public Health said in a press release.

Reference: Kajeepeta S, et al. Lancet Public Health. 2021; doi: 10.1016 / S2468-2667 (20) 30283-8.

Kajeepeta and colleagues conducted a retrospective longitudinal study that collected data on incarceration at the U.S. county level from 1987 to 2017 from the Vera Institute of Justice and data on cause-specific mortality in people under 75 from 1988 to 2018 from the U.S. National Vital Statistics System.

Models for nine causes of mortality were built and controlled for co-founders varying over time and stable characteristics at the county level, including mean age, poverty rate, percentage of black residents, crime rate, unemployment rate, and state incarceration rate. Researchers delayed the incarceration rate in models by 1 year to assess short-term risk of premature death related to incarceration rate, by 5 years to assess medium-term risk, and by 10 years to assess long-term risk.

A total of 1,094 counties – 36% of all counties in the US – had data for at least 2 years on the causes of death assessed in the study.

According to the researchers, there was an increase in the incarceration rate within the county of 1 per 1,000 with an increase in death from infectious diseases of 6.5% (RR = 1.065; 95% CI, 1.061-1.07) and an increase in death from chronic diseases 4.9% associated lower respiratory tract diseases (RR = 1.049; 95% CI, 1.045-1.052), an increase in death from substance use of 2.6% (RR = 1.026; 95% CI, 1.020-1.032) and a 2.5% increase in suicidal death (RR) = 1.025; 95% CI, 1.020-1.029) after 1 year.

Kajeepeta and colleagues also identified smaller increases in death from heart disease (RR = 1.021, 95% CI, 1.019-1.023), unintentional injury (RR = 1.015; 95% CI, 1.011-1.018), and malignant neoplasms (RR = 1.014, 95) % CI, 1.013-1.016), diabetes (RR = 1.013; 95% CI, 1.009-1.018), and cerebrovascular disease (RR = 1.01; 95% CI, 1.007-1.013) 1 year after an increase of 1 per 1,000 within the county in incarceration rate.

According to the researchers, the associations between incarceration and cause-specific mortality rates weakened over time as time delays increased to 5 and 10 years, especially for causes such as infectious diseases and suicide with shorter latencies than for causes such as heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, which are typically longer Have latency times.

“Our results provide further evidence of the health harms of mass incarceration at the population level,” Kajeepeta said in the press release. “With US correctional facilities reporting some of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the nation, the pandemic underscores the immediate need for decarial strategies to massively reduce the number of people incarcerated in our nation’s prisons and prisons for the life of inmates and protect inmates controlling the spread of infectious diseases in the community. “

References:

Columbia. Incarceration is heavily linked to premature death in the US https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/incarceration-strongly-linked-premature-death-us. Accessed March 1, 2021.

Kajeepeta S. et al. Lancet Public Health. 2021; doi: 10.1016 / S2468-2667 (20) 30283-8.

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