[Ambulatory neurological care in a prison population]

Abstract

Aims: Some of the users attended in a Neurology service consist of the inmate population in a prison. The aim of this study is to analyse all the proposals referred from the Alicante II Prison Centre to a Neurology service.

Patients and methods: We analyse and describe the clinical characteristics of patients referred from the Alicante II Prison Centre to the Neurology service at the Centro Sanitario Integrado in Villena between the years 2003 and 2006. This analysis involved the following variables: age, sex, personal history, reason for visiting and diagnosis.

Results: A total of 88 proposals were recorded. The mean age of the patients was 35 years (84 males/4 females). A total of 15 patients did not attend their appointment (17%). Positive serology for the human immunodeficiency virus was found in 18% of patients. The most frequent reason for visiting was headache (32%), followed by seizures (25%) and, thirdly, vascular pathologies (13%). In a group of 16 patients (18%) the main diagnosis was established as being some kind of psychiatric disorder (anxiety, depression, simulation).

Conclusions: No studies have been published in the literature that analyse the clinical characteristics of patients from prisons referred to a Neurology service. The high percentage of patients who do not attend their appointment and the high percentage of psychiatric disorders that are diagnosed within this group of patients are especially noteworthy. However, and as can be observed in the general population, headache is still the most common reason for visiting. Nevertheless, the group of neurological diagnoses that are most frequently attended is epilepsy.