[Changes in the use of hospital resources from prison: a 16 year study].

OBJECTIVE To describe hospital morbidity caused by the inmates of our prison over the past 16 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS retrospective study of hospital admissions between 01-01-1994 and 31-12-2009, divided into four periods. Socio-demographic variables were collected: duration of stay and discharge diagnosis. Quantitative variables were described as means and medians and qualitative variables as absolute and relative frequencies. A mean comparison was performed on quantitative variables and qualitative proportions. For equal variances, an ANOVA test was performed with linear trend study of encoding the variable "period" with orthogonal contrasts. Without equality of variances, comparisons were made using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and tendencies by means of the nonparametric Jonckheere-Terpstra test. For qualitative variables we used the Pearson Chi-Square, evaluating the trend with the chi-square for linear trend. RESULTS 625 patients generated 996 admissions with no temporal variation. The median age is 33 years, with an upward trend (29 years to 38, p <0.0001). 47.9% were HIV + [(63.3% to 35.9%), p <0.0001]. The average stay was 9.6 days (95% CI 8.8 to 10.4) [11.9 (10.0 to 13.9) 9.6 (8.8 to 10.4), p = 0.002]. The frequency of internal and year 1000 remained unchanged (111.6 to 87.9, p = 0.366). The days of hospitalization decreased (3066 to 2442, p = 0.049)) and the average admitted per day (2.1 to 1.7, p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS The use of hospital resources from prison is constant. The way they use it has changed along with the pathology that causes it. HIV is no longer the primary pathology.