Health Conditions and Treatment Utilization Among Older Male Veterans Incarcerated in Prisons.

BACKGROUND: More than 50,000 older male veterans incarcerated in prisons are expected to return to their communities and utilize the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and community healthcare systems. To support the continuity of healthcare and overall successful community reentry of older incarcerated veterans, an understanding of their health profiles and treatment utilization while in correctional care is needed. OBJECTIVE: To assess the health status of older male veterans incarcerated in state prisons and explore demographic, military, and VHA-related factors associated with medical conditions, disabilities, behavioral conditions, and medical and behavioral treatment utilization. DESIGN/PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional observational study of 880 male veterans aged 50 + incarcerated in state prisons using data from the 2016 Bureau of Justice Statistics Survey of Prison Inmates. MAIN MEASURES: Veteran status, self-report health status, and treatment utilization since prison admission. Prevalence rates for conditions and treatment utilization were calculated. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association of characteristics with conditions and treatment utilization. KEY RESULTS: Among the 880 older male veterans in state prisons, the majority reported having a current medical condition (79.3%) or disability (61.6%), almost half had history of a mental health condition (44.5%), and more than a quarter (29%) had a substance use disorder. Compared to White veterans, Black veterans were less likely to report a disability or mental health condition. Few demographic, military, and VA-related characteristics were associated with medical or behavioral conditions or treatment utilization. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the VHA and community healthcare systems need to be prepared to address medical and disability conditions among the majority of older male veterans who will be leaving prison and returning to their communities. Integrated medical and behavioral healthcare delivery models may be especially important for these veterans as many did not receive behavioral health treatment while in prison.

How the APHA Maternal and Child Health Section Advanced the Public Health Approach to Gun Violence Prevention.

PURPOSE: This manuscript provides a history of efforts by the American Public Health Association (APHA) Maternal and Child Health Section (MCH Section) Gun Violence Prevention Workgroup (GVP Workgroup) to promote gun violence prevention (GVP) as a key public health priority both within the MCH Section and APHA, and nationally. DESCRIPTION: The MCH Section established a gun violence prevention workgroup in response to the murders of twenty first-grade children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This article presents an overview of the accomplishments and challenges of the MCH Section GVP Workgroup in a context of ever-increasing gun violence. As of 2020, firearms became the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens. ASSESSMENT: Over the past decade, a small group of volunteers helped maintain GVP as one of the top priorities of both the MCH Section and APHA. Endorsement by the MCH Section and APHA leadership facilitated MCH Section GVP Workgroup efforts including organizing a national conference, developing scientific sessions for APHA annual meetings, establishing coalitions, and providing ongoing education and outreach to APHA members. CONCLUSION: The MCH Section GVP Workgroup helped to both elevate and maintain focus on GVP as a top priority of the MCH Section and APHA, indirectly impacting national efforts to promote a public health approach to GVP. The ongoing epidemic of firearm violence highlights the importance of continuing and strengthening this work. Individuals at other national, state or local organizations might look to the efforts and accomplishment of the MCH Section GVP Workgroup in pursuing critical issues within their own organizations.

Co-occurring Medical Multimorbidity, Mental Illness, and Substance Use Disorders Among Older Criminal Legal System-Involved Veterans.

BACKGROUND: Older veterans involved in the criminal legal system (CLS) may have patterns of multimorbidity that place them at risk for poor health outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of medical multimorbidity (≥2 chronic medical diseases), substance use disorders (SUDs), and mental illness among CLS-involved veterans aged 50 and older. RESEARCH DESIGN: Using Veterans Health Administration health records, we estimated the prevalence of mental illness, SUD, medical multimorbidity, and the co-occurrence of these conditions among veterans by CLS involvement as indicated by Veterans Justice Programs encounters. Multivariable logistic regression models assessed the association between CLS involvement, the odds for each condition, and the co-occurrence of conditions. SUBJECTS: Veterans aged 50 and older who received services at Veterans Health Administration facilities in 2019 (n=4,669,447). METHODS: Mental illness, SUD, medical multimorbidity. RESULTS: An estimated 0.5% (n=24,973) of veterans aged 50 and older had CLS involvement. For individual conditions, veterans with CLS involvement had a lower prevalence of medical multimorbidity compared with veterans without but had a higher prevalence of all mental illnesses and SUDs. After adjusting for demographic factors, CLS involvement remained associated with concurrent mental illness and SUD (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 5.52, 95% CI=5.35-5.69), SUD and medical multimorbidity (aOR=2.09, 95% CI=2.04-2.15), mental illness and medical multimorbidity (aOR=1.04, 95% CI=1.01-1.06), and having all 3 simultaneously (aOR=2.42, 95% CI=2.35-2.49). CONCLUSIONS: Older veterans involved in the CLS are at high risk for co-occurring mental illness, SUDs, and medical multimorbidity, all of which require appropriate care and treatment. Integrated care rather than disease-specific care is imperative for this population.

Exposure to personal and community violence and associated drug use outcomes in African American young adults.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to violence (ETV) during one's life has been associated with increased risk for substance abuse. Adolescent ETV is also related to substance abuse into adulthood, and has been shown to have a cumulative effect. This study adds to the understanding of how ETV relates to a range of substance use outcomes by specifying how different types of violence affects substance use behaviors in African American young adults, and examines how this exposure is moderated by other life stressors, and health and social experiences. METHOD: Factor analysis was conducted to identify unique types of ETV in 638 African American men and women ages 18-25. The resulting factors represent 1) childhood ETV and 2) community ETV as adults. These were regressed upon substance abuse outcomes. RESULTS: 78% of the respondents were exposed to some form of violence during their childhood. Lower childhood ETV were significantly associated with a lower risk of engaging in dangerous substance use behaviors. Adult experiences of community violence had more significant predictors of drug use than childhood ETV. Witnessing gunfire or an assault, witnessing or being a victim of sexual assault, and carrying a weapon were consistent risk factors for dangerous drug behaviors, although specific drug use behaviors differed across genders. CONCLUSIONS: ETV served as an independent explanatory factor for specific drug use behaviors at different stages of life. Future research is needed to understand how these factors put respondents at risk for drug use behaviors or make them less likely to engage in dangerous use patterns.

Veterans in Prison for Sexual Offenses: Characteristics and Reentry Service Needs.

Among prison-incarcerated men in the United States, more veterans (35%) have a sexual offense conviction than nonveterans (23%). Limited research has investigated factors explaining the link between military service and sexual offending. Nationally representative data from prison-incarcerated men (n = 14,080) were used to examine the association between veteran status and sexual offenses, adjusting for demographic, childhood, and clinical characteristics. Veterans had 1.35 higher odds (95% confidence interval = [1.12, 1.62], p < .01) of a sexual offense than nonveterans. Among veterans, those who were homeless or taking mental health medications at arrest had lower odds and veterans with a sexual trauma history had higher odds of a sexual offense compared with other offense types. Offering mental health services in correctional and health care settings to address trauma experiences and providing long-term housing options can help veterans with sexual offenses as they transition from prison to their communities.

Dementia in the incarcerated population: a retrospective study using the South Carolina Alzheimer's disease registry, USA.

PURPOSE: Research about the prevalence of dementia among older adults in the incarceration system is currently lacking, and further investigation is warranted. Considering the high level of healthcare needs, unique behavioural issues and difficulty to rehabilitate within the system due to its punitive approach and lack of effective rehabilitation programs, further investigation is warranted to characterize and determine the number of incarcerated older adults with dementia. The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of individuals with dementia in the prison system while also describing the incarceration, demographic and offence-related characteristics of this unique population. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: South Carolina (SC) Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias Registry (1992-2016) and South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) data (Fiscal years 1992-2019) were cross-referenced. The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) cases in the corrections system was calculated using South Carolina Alzheimer's Disease (SC AD) SC ADRD Registry and SCDC data. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to determine strength and direction of relationships between year of incarceration and frequency of ADRD cases both prior to and after incarcerations, respectively. Significant differences by age group, race, gender and dementia type were determined using a two-tailed pooled t-test and Bonferroni approach where appropriate. Count data for types of crimes committed are also presented. FINDINGS: The linkage showed that there were 2,171 individuals within the SC AD Registry who have been in the corrections system, about 1% of those in the Registry. Of these individuals, 1,930 cases were diagnosed with ADRD after incarceration and 241 prior to incarceration. In 2016, 317 individuals with ADRD were incarcerated. For ages 55 and above in South Carolina, the prevalence of ADRD is 6.7% in the general, non-incarcerated population compared to 14.4% in the incarcerated population. Additional results showed that those diagnosed with ADRD between 55 and 65 years of age had a significantly lower mean age at first incarceration (34.6 years of age) than those diagnosed between 66 and 74 years of age (55.9 years of age), indicating that those incarcerated earlier in life had an earlier dementia diagnosis. Additionally, African Americans had a significantly lower mean age at first incarceration (43.4 years of age) than Whites (46.2 years of age) and females had significantly lower mean age at first incarceration (42.9 years of age) than males (45 years of age). When investigating trends, results showed a significant positive linear association between year and frequency of ADRD diagnoses (p-value < 0.05) for those with ADRD diagnosis prior to incarceration and a significant decreasing linear association (p-value < 0.0001) in the number of individuals with an ADRD diagnosis after corrections. Findings also showed that a large percentage of older adults with ADRD in prison did not commit a violence offence. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study links a population-based Alzheimer's disease registry and state-wide corrections data to estimate the prevalence of individuals with dementia in the prison system. This linkage presents an opportunity to fill in significant gaps and contribute to the body of literature on dementia among people in prison in the USA.

Effects of Different Types of Childhood Victimization on Health Outcomes: A Study of African American Young Adults in Washington, D.C.

OBJECTIVE: Some children experience violence and trauma with effects lasting into adulthood. We examine how five types of childhood exposure to violence (ETV) affect the current depression, sleep habits, and drug use of 638 African American youth ages 18 to 25, in Washington, D.C. METHODS: We correlated childhood exposure to conventional crime, child maltreatment, peer/sibling victimization, sexual victimization, and witnessing crime/indirect (WC/I) victimization with depressive symptoms, depressive moods, trouble sleeping, current drug use, lifetime alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use, and current ATOD use problems. RESULTS: Depressive symptoms and lifetime ATOD use were significantly correlated with each childhood ETV measure; depressive moods with WC/I and peer/sibling victimization, trouble sleeping with childhood maltreatment and current drug use, and problems with ATOD with childhood sexual victimization. CONCLUSIONS: Specific types of ETV are correlated with different behavioral and health outcomes in young adulthood and these differences are important to study further.

Violence Exposure, Drug Use and HIV/AIDS Risk Taking Behaviors: The Role of Gender.

OBJECTIVE: To examine gender differences among African American young adults in their exposure to violence (ETV) before age 18 and community violence as an adult, and the relationship of these exposures to drug use and HIV risk taking behaviors (HIVRTB). METHOD: We detail these experiences in 440 self-identified African Americans, ages 18 to 25, from socio-economically disadvantaged wards in Washington, DC. Factor analysis was used to identify the types of violence experienced before age 18 and as adults. Regression was used to identify which types of violence had the greatest impact on subsequent drug use and HIVRTB. RESULTS: We found gender differences in the types of violence experienced and their effects on drug use and HIVRTB. For women, the strongest ETV factors were direct personal violence, and exposure to drug sales or physical violence as adults. For men, the strongest factors were feeling unsafe in different situations as adults and exposure to violence among adults before age 18. CONCLUSIONS: We identified the specific kinds of violence that are most likely to impact drug use and risky sexual behaviors that can leave one vulnerable to HIV and how these differ between women and men exposed to both childhood violence and community violence as an adult. Our findings point toward the need for trauma-informed programs that are tailored to gender.

Pregnancy-Associated Deaths in Virginia Due to Homicides, Suicides, and Accidental Overdoses Compared With Natural Causes.

This research is a case study of 309 pregnancy-associated deaths that occurred in Virginia from 1999-2005. Pregnancy-associated deaths due to homicide, suicide, or accidental overdose were compared with natural deaths. Violent deaths accounted for almost 30% of the cases. Homicides accounted for 13% of all the deaths in the sample, larger than any single natural cause of death. Homicide was the leading manner of death for Black women and was 4.5 times the rate of White decedents. Recommendations include expanding maternal death surveillance, committing to ending violence against women, and promoting universal screenings for domestic or interpersonal violence.