Citation | Loc* | Study type/design | Setting | Study population | Sample size |
Aoki et al.23 Cost-effectiveness analysis of telemedicine to evaluate diabetic retinopathy in a prison population. | USA | Cost-effectiveness analysis. | Prison units throughout East Texas that provide primary healthcare to 125 000 inmates; the Eastern Regional Medical Facility is located 120 miles north of Galveston. | Adult, patients with type 2 diabetes with diabetic retinopathy. | Reference case: one 40-year-old African–American man Sensitivity analysis: assumed to be 750 patients with diabetes in a prison, with 75% examined using teleophthalmology. |
Barrera-Valencia et al.24 Cost-effectiveness of Synchronous vs Asynchronous Telepsychiatry in Prison Inmates With Depression. | CO | Cost-effectiveness analysis. | Medium-Security Penitentiary and Prison Establishment of Manizales; Establecimiento Penitenciario y Carcelario de Mediana Seguridad de Manizales, Colombia. | Male inmates, age greater than 18 years, within the ‘mild depression’ and ‘very severe depression’ bracket of Zung’s Self-Rating Depression Scale (1965). Inmates were referred by the general practitioner and had a positive HDRS score; inmates were excluded if they had visual or hearing impairment, they were currently undergoing psychiatric treatment, or if they failed to consent. | n=106. |
Bertin et al.25 (Teledermatology between two French hospitals: Two years of experience.) | FR | Descriptive study. | Two corrections facilities: Maison d’Arrêt de Bois-d’Arcy and Maison d’Arrêt pour femmes de Versailles. | 89% men, adults aged 18–79 years. Compared with inpatient teledermatology cases, the incarcerated population had a higher proportion of male patients and they presented with conditions that had a more chronic evolution. Incarcerated women had more significant histories of disease compared with men. | n=231. |
Gavigan et al.26 Patterns of skin disease in a sample of the federal prison population: A retrospective chart review. | CA | Observational, cross-sectional, retrospective chart review. | Federal correctional facilities in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. | Male, aged 20–39 years, sentenced to 2 years or longer in prison. | n=320 patients (258 seen in-person, 60 evaluated using eConsult, 2 who received both). |
Khatibi et al.27 (Teledermatology in a prison setting: A retrospective study of 500 expert opinions.) | FR | Descriptive study. | The Fresnes prison (maison d’arrêt de Fresnes) in France. | 94.1% men with a mean age of 34 years. | n=500 consultations. |
Morosini et al.28 Performance of distant diagnosis of dental caries by teledentistry in juvenile offenders. | BR | Cross-sectional study. | Juvenile detention facility, CENSE São Francisco Piraquara, Paraná, southern Brazil. | Male, juvenile offenders aged 15–19 years who were undergoing social and educational measures of deprivation of liberty. | n=102. |
Pan et al.29 The value of provider-to-provider telehealth. | USA | Cost analysis through computer simulation. | Models considered four settings: emergency departments, prisons (correctional facilities), nursing home facilities and physician offices. Two possible encounter pairings relevant to corrections were considered:1 correctional facilities to emergency departments;2 correctional facilities to physician offices. | Patients, prisoners and nursing home residents (not otherwise specified). | The 1668 prisons in the USA, each with one telehealth equipment set. |
Yogesan et al.10 Online eye care in prisons in Western Australia. | AU | Pilot study. | Maximum-security prison, located 25 km from Perth. | Patients aged 30–82 years that either had prior appointments at public hospitals for ophthalmic assessment or were known to be diabetic, with probable ophthalmic pathology. | n=11. |
Zarca et al.30 Tele-expertise for diagnosis of skin lesions is cost-effective in a prison setting: A retrospective cohort study of 450 patients. | FR | Retrospective cohort study. | All prisons in a network of eight prison primary care units and two hospital dermatology units, in France. | Male and female patients, aged greater than 18 years, presenting to medical units in participating prisons with a dermatological condition needing a dermatologist’s advice. Mean age was 34.2 years. 90% were men. Control group: Patients who had a dermatologist consultation appointment made in 2013 and 2014 in one prison of the network, for which tele-expertise was not implemented. Providers of tele-expertise were 10 physicians: one from each local care unit () and one from each expert site ().2 8 | 450 patients (511 requests) in the intervention group; 54 requests in the control group 10 physicians (8 PCPs and 2 dermatologists). |
*Location: AU=Australia; BR=Brazil; CA=Canada; CO=Colombia; FR=France; USA=United States of America.
HDRS, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; PCP, primary care provider.