Hospital admissions for HIV-infected prisoners in Italy

International Journal of Prisoner Health,Volume 13, Issue 2, June 2017. Purpose to give a description of the clinical conditions and patient demographics of inpatient admissions of HIV-infected inmates in three hospital wards that provide hospital care for inmates in Italy. Design/methodology/approach Retrospective review of hospital medical admissions of patients living with HIV from 1st January to 31st December 2014 in three Italian referral centers for hospitalization of inmates. Findings A total of 85 admissions for 85 different HIV-infected inmates occurred in 2014 in the three centers participating to the study. Most patients (54.1%) were co-infected with Hepatitis C. Discharge diagnosis largely varied ranging from common HIV-related co-morbidities to completely independent diagnosis. The most commonly observed discharge diagnosis were chronic hepatitis C, liver cirrhosis, opiate dependence and thrombocytopenia. Originality/value Discharge diagnosis between HIV-infected inmates and HIV-infected patients in freedom are strikingly and significantly different. A large number of hospitalized HIV-infected inmates were affected by chronic viral hepatitis and liver cirrhosis; this is probably a direct consequence of the high prevalence of HCV and/or HBV co-infections in the inmate population in Italy. In addition, a significantly lower proportion of cancer diagnosis was observed among inmates; this is possibly justified by the fact that in our Italian settings when HIV-inf...
Source: International Journal of Prisoner Health - Category: Criminology Source Type: research