US prison release a health risk: study

A new study reinforces the risks associated with overdose and release from prison:

Getting released from US prisons could be even more dangerous than being in them.

Death and prison records from Washington state show that 30,237 convicts released from 1999 to 2003 were 12 times more likely to die from a drug overdose and 10 times more likely to be murdered in a two-year period than the general population.

...

During the two-week period immediately after their release, compared to years later, the ex-cons were:

* 29 times more likely to die from cocaine;

* 34 times more likely to die from a heroin overdose;

* 15 times more likely to be killed by alcohol;

* more than twice as likely to be gunned down; and

* nearly 8 times more likely to commit suicide.

The authors of the study characterized these results as surprising. I'm not sure why it should be surprising. It's well known that substance use problems occur in around 80% of inmates and that addicts are at greatest risk for overdose after a period of abstinence, especially involuntary abstinence. Additionally, people who end up in prison are probably among those with the greatest number of co-occurring problems. They get placed in a toxic environment, get little or no treatment and (locally) are often released into conditions that make relapse and recidivism nearly inevitable.

Relapse rates after lung/liver surgery

Two stories about relapse rates following surgery. One about relapse rates following lung cancer surgery:

The U.S. study of 154 smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer found that, within 12 months after their surgery, 43 percent of them had picked up a cigarette at some point and 37 percent were actively smoking. Sixty percent of patients who started smoking again did so within two months after their operation.

The second reports encouraging numbers about relapse rates following a liver transplant:

During the first year after transplantation, 22% of subjects had at least 1 drink, 10% had at least 1 heavy drinking episode,* and 5% returned to frequent drinking.** By the fifth post-transplant year, 42% had at least 1 drink, 26% had at least 1 heavy drinking episode, and 20% returned to frequent drinking.

Maybe I'm a hypersensitive to stigma, but I wonder is Forbes would have run an article about patient behavior following heart transplants--compliance rates with diet, exercise and medication.