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Epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of female prisoners with definite COVID-19 in a prison in the southwest, Iran, 2020

Maryam Dastoorpoor (Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran)
Narges Khodadadi (Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran)
Seyed Hamid Borsi (Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran)
Farkhondeh Jamshidi (Department of Internal Medicine, Air Pollution and Respiratory Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran)
Alireza Babaei Farsani (Department of Forensic Medicine, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran)
Mehrdad Noorzadeh (Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran)

International Journal of Prisoner Health

ISSN: 1744-9200

Article publication date: 16 December 2021

Issue publication date: 24 November 2022

56

Abstract

Purpose

Prisoners are at greater risk of infectious diseases compared to the general population. While imprisoned, it is often difficult to observe Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) prevention strategies such as social distancing. To the authors’ knowledge, no study has been conducted worldwide to examine the condition of female prisoners with COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Women’s Prison (southwest, Iran).

Design/methodology/approach

The data for this descriptive cross-sectional study was collected using a checklist including epidemiological information, clinical symptoms, X-ray and computed tomography scan findings of the chest, underlying diseases and the final status of all female prisoners whose COVID-19 test was positive.

Findings

This study included 139 female prisoners with COVID-19 with a mean age of 37.19 ± 12.67 years. The most common underlying diseases were hypertension (14.4%), obesity (10.8%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.4%). The most common symptoms at the onset of the disease were myalgia (59.0%), cough (41.0%) and dyspnea (37.4%). The most common radiological symptoms were ground-glass opacity (12.9%) and atelectasis (7.2%). In terms of extension of involvement, both lungs were involved in 8.6% of patients. In terms of zonal involvement, the lower lobes were more involved (8.6%). In terms of involvement position, the most common was sub-pleural (10.1%). None of the patients died.

Originality/value

Because the incidence, morbidity and mortality rate of COVID-19 in the prison population are likely to differ from those of the public. This study sought to investigate the situation of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Prison, Khuzestan Province. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first worldwide study in this regard in women’s prisons.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Author contribution: The authors acknowledge the cooperation of all participants in this study.Funding: This study was funded and supported by Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Grant No. OG-9934.Ethical approval and consent to participate: Ethics license of this study was acquired from the Ethics Committee of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (Code of ethics: IR.AJUMS.REC.1399.476). Then oral informed consent was inquired from the patients to participate in this study. They were assured that their information would remain confidential.Availability of supporting data: Data sharing: Participant-level data are available from the corresponding author.Consent for publication: Not applicable.Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.MN and MD conceived and designed the project. MD and MN acquired the data. MD and SHB analyzed and interpreted the data. NK, FJ and ABF. wrote the paper. All authors approved the final text.

Citation

Dastoorpoor, M., Khodadadi, N., Borsi, S.H., Jamshidi, F., Farsani, A.B. and Noorzadeh, M. (2022), "Epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of female prisoners with definite COVID-19 in a prison in the southwest, Iran, 2020", International Journal of Prisoner Health, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 407-416. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-03-2021-0027

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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