A public health registry among prisoners in Switzerland
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN11714665 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN11714665 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | v1.0 |
- Submission date
- 26/03/2020
- Registration date
- 01/04/2020
- Last edited
- 03/05/2024
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
Disease frequencies and specific health issues of prisoners and refugees are poorly understood. Many individuals lack the opportunities to discuss their health issues and access to the healthcare system is limited. Physicians working at prisons and detention centres often speak of a "blind spot in society", as it is thought that certain chronic and psychiatric diseases are seen more frequently than the general population.
Currently, there has been no systematic investigation into the health issues of these inmates. Furthermore, little is known on how recent migration flows in Europe may have impacted the health conditions of inmates in recent years.
The aim of this study is to establish an international health registry with detailed data on the health and well-being of the incarcerated population.
Who can participate?
Inmates from the police prison in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland
What does the study involve?
The study will gather anonymised health-related data from prisoners during their stay in prison.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
There are no individual benefits or risks involved in this study. All extracted data is anonymised and therefore cannot be traced back to an individual. On a larger scale, the study will contribute to the understanding of public health problems among prisoners in general.
Where is the study run from?
Police Prison Zurich (Switzerland)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
From January 2015 to December 2021
Who is funding the study?
This is an investigator-initiated trial.
The study is funded by the Waltraud und Gertraud Siegenthaler Foundation and Ida Herzog-Egli Foundation (Switzerland)
Who is the main contact?
Dr. Thomas Gaisl
Thomas.Gaisl@usz.ch
Contact information
Scientific
Rämistrasse 100
Zurich
8091
Switzerland
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-9017-6143 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +41 44 255 11 11 |
| Thomas.Gaisl@usz.ch |
Study information
| Study design | Observational study - Health registry |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Observational |
| Secondary study design | Epidemiological study |
| Study setting(s) | Prison/detention |
| Study type | Diagnostic |
| Participant information sheet | No participant information sheet available |
| Scientific title | The Swiss Prison Study (SWIPS) in north-central Switzerland: a public health registry |
| Study acronym | SWIPS |
| Study objectives | 1. The disease profile of inmates substantially differs from that of the general population. Specifically, certain chronic and psychiatric diseases are disproportionately prevalent among inmates and refugees. 2. A large number of drugs (e.g. psychotropic substances) may be used “off label” and the origin of the inmates and the refugee route respectively may have an impact on the disease profile of the affected. 3. Recent geopolitical changes significantly affected the overall disease profile of inmates in the prisons. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Approved 05/08/2019, the Cantonal Ethics Committee Zurich (Stampfenbachstr. 121 Postfach, 8090 Zurich, Switzerland; +41 43 259 79 70; admin.kek@kek.zh.ch), ref: 2019-01055 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Health data of inmates (police prison) from the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland |
| Intervention | This is a cross-sectional observation among approx. 50,000 to 60,000 prisoners in Switzerland. Health-related data such as age, sex, country of origin, duration of imprisonment, medication (incl. drug name, brand, dosage, release), medical history (incl. ICD-codes of all diagnosis and external results which are part of the medical history in prison) will be deposited in a central register over five years (2015-2020). Corresponding health data (incl. as age, sex, medication, medical history) will be gathered from a representative local resident population for comparison. The local resident population will be matched for age and sex. This data will be provided by the insurance companies and will be de-identified. |
| Intervention type | Other |
| Primary outcome measure | Prevalence of diseases according to ICD-codes among prisoners using cross-sectional data from medical records of all prisoners from 2015 to 2020 |
| Secondary outcome measures | 1. Compare the disease prevalence (ICD-codes) of the inmates against a representative sample from the local resident population, using cross-sectional medical records from all inmates at the police prison Zurich from 2015 to 2020. 2. Longitudinal changes in the disease prevalence (ICD-codes) from 2015 to 2020 using cross-sectional medical records from all inmates at the police prison Zurich. |
| Overall study start date | 01/01/2015 |
| Completion date | 31/12/2021 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Other |
|---|---|
| Age group | All |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 50,000 - 60,000 inmates |
| Total final enrolment | 51798 |
| Key inclusion criteria | Inmates from the police prison in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland |
| Key exclusion criteria | Unwillingness to participate |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/04/2015 |
| Date of final enrolment | 01/04/2020 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Switzerland
Study participating centre
Zurich
8021
Switzerland
Sponsor information
Hospital/treatment centre
Rämistrasse 100
Zurich
8091
Switzerland
| Phone | +41 44 255 11 11 |
|---|---|
| thomas.gaisl@usz.ch | |
| Website | http://www.en.usz.ch/Pages/default.aspx |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/01462r250 |
Funders
Funder type
Other
No information available
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 01/01/2022 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Available on request |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Data is planned to be published in peer-reviewed journals from 2020. |
| IPD sharing plan | The anonymised datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study will be available upon request from Dr Thomas Gaisl, thomas.gaisl@usz.ch. No consent from participants was obtained. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol article | 08/12/2020 | 03/05/2024 | Yes | No |
Editorial Notes
03/05/2024: Publication reference added.
24/01/2023: The study setting has been updated from ‘Other’.
14/07/2021: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The recruitment end date was changed from 01/12/2020 to 01/04/2020.
2. The overall trial end date was changed from 31/12/2020 to 31/12/2021.
3. The intention to publish date was changed from 01/01/2021 to 01/01/2022.
4. The total final enrolment number has been added.
21/05/2020: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The protocol number was added.
2. The recruitment end date was changed from 01/04/2020 to 01/12/2020.
01/04/2020: Trial’s existence confirmed by the Cantonal Ethics Committee Zurich.
