. 2014 Sep;104(9):1728–1733. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.301952

TABLE 1—

Predetainment Acute Care Use and Plans to Use Acute Care After Release From Jail According to Participant Characteristics Among 247 Inmates Aged 55 Years or Older in the San Francisco County Jail: California, 2012

Characteristic	All Participants (n = 247), No. (%) or Mean (Range)	No Predetainment Acute Care Use^a (n = 119; 48%), No. (%) or Mean (Range)	Predetainment Acute Care Use (n = 128; 52%), No. (%) or Mean (Range)	P	No Anticipated Acute Care Use^b (n = 132; 53%), No. (%) or Mean (Range)	Anticipated Acute Care Use (n = 115; 47%), No. (%) or Mean (Range)	P
Age, y^c	59 (55–75)	59 (55–75)	59 (55–70)	.91	60 (55–75)	59 (55–68)	.13
Other sociodemographics
Age 55–64 y	221 (90)	106 (89)	115 (90)	.84	115 (87)	106 (92)	.2
Race/ethnicity
Black	155 (63)	74 (62)	81 (63)	.66	87 (66)	68 (59)	.73
White, non-Latino	50 (20)	21 (18)	29 (23)		24 (18)	26 (23)
Latino	22 (9)	12 (10)	10 (8)		12 (9)	10 (9)
Asian/Pacific Islander	14 (6)	8 (7)	6 (5)		7 (5)	7 (6)
Female	12 (5)	4 (3)	8 (6)	.38	9 (7)	3 (3)	.15
Annual income < $15 000	197 (80)	93 (78)	109 (85)	.15	107 (81)	95 (83)	.91
High school, GED, or more	183 (74)	91 (76)	92 (72)	.41	97 (73)	86 (75)	.82
Health conditions^d
Self-rated health status
Poor or fair	129 (52)	53 (44)	77 (60)		71 (53)	59 (51)
Good, very good, or excellent	117 (48)	66 (56)	51 (40)	.016	61 (47)	56 (49)	.738
Hypertension	154 (62)	76 (64)	80 (62)	.83	92 (70)	63 (55)	.01
Diabetes	42 (17)	22 (18)	20 (16)	.55	25 (19)	17 (15)	.39
Heart attack or coronary disease	49 (20)	18 (15)	31 (24)	.07	30 (23)	19 (17)	.22
Congestive heart failure	17 (7)	4 (3)	13 (10)	.04	12 (9)	5 (4)	.11
Stroke	25 (10)	10 (8)	15 (12)	.39	16 (12)	9 (8)	.26
Cancer^e	18 (7)	5 (4)	13 (10)	.07	9 (7)	9 (8)	.76
Chronic lung disease	39 (16)	18 (15)	21 (17)	.76	25 (19)	14 (12)	.14
HIV/AIDS	13 (5)	5 (4)	8 (6)	.46	4 (3)	9 (8)	.15
Hepatitis C	121 (49)	53 (45)	69 (54)	.18	67 (51)	55 (48)	.64
Alzheimer’s, dementia, senility^f	24 (10)	8 (7)	16 (13)	.12	16 (12)	8 (7)	.18
Arthritis or rheumatism	124 (50)	61 (51)	63 (50)	.13	65 (49)	60 (52)	.69
≥ 3 chronic conditions	116 (47)	50 (42)	66 (52)	.13	68 (52)	48 (42)	.13
Serious mental illness^g	118 (48)	50 (42)	75 (59)	.07	60 (46)	58 (50)	.47
Geriatric conditions
Persistent pain	124 (50)	51 (43)	74 (57)	.02	64 (48)	61 (53)	.52
Persistent shortness of breath^h	37 (15)	13 (11)	25 (19)	.08	24 (18)	13 (12)	.15
Functional impairmentⁱ	110 (45)	34 (29)	51 (40)	.06	47 (36)	38 (33)	.67
Recent fall(s)^j	75 (30)	26 (22)	49 (39)	< .01	42 (32)	33 (29)	.6
Social and behavioral health factors
Tobacco use^k	162 (66)	73 (62)	89 (70)	.18	86 (66)	76 (67)	.87
Drug use^l	134 (54)	66 (55)	70 (54)	.71	76 (58)	58 (50)	.26
Problem alcohol use^m	148 (60)	70 (59)	79 (61)	.68	87 (66)	62 (54)	.05
Homelessnessⁿ	112 (45)	42 (36)	71 (55)	< .01	61 (46)	52 (45)	.17
Medication insecurity^o	100 (40)	39 (33)	64 (50)	.01	55 (41)	49 (42)	.88
Food insecurity^o	152 (62)	68 (57)	89 (70)	.04	79 (60)	79 (68)	.17
Acute care use
Has primary care provider	174 (70)	89 (70)	85 (71)	.74	104 (79)	70 (61)	< .01
Recent acute care use	128 (52)	. . .	. . .	. . .	64 (48)	64 (56)	.26
Anticipated acute care postrelease	115 (47)	64 (54)	64 (50)	.42	. . .	. . .	. . .

Note. GED = general equivalency diploma.

^{^a}

We defined recent acute care use as answering “yes” to the questions “In the 3 months before jail, did you ever visit a hospital emergency room?” or “In the 3 months before jail, did you ever stay overnight in a hospital?”

^{^b}

We defined plans for acute care use after release as answering “emergency room,” “hospital,” named a specific emergency room, or replied “I get my health care in the jail” to the question “after you are released from jail, where will you go for health care?”

^{^c}

Age analyzed with t tests. All other factors analyzed with χ² tests.

^{^d}

Health conditions determined through self-report or documentation in the jail medical record.

^{^e}

Excluding minor skin cancers.

^{^f}

Determined through documentation in the jail medical record or by answering “yes” to the following question from the Health and Retirement Survey¹⁸: “Do you have or have you ever been told by a medical professional that you have Alzheimer’s, dementia, or senility?”

^{^g}

Serious mental illness includes any major depressive, manic, or psychotic disorder and was determined through self-report or documentation in the jail medical record.¹⁹

^{^h}

Persistent defined as a symptom described as “moderate or severe” and occurring “constantly or frequently.”^23,24

^ⁱ

Functional impairment defined as having difficulty with 1 or more activities of daily living (bathing, eating, transferring, toileting, or dressing)²⁷ or needing a cane, wheelchair, walker, or other aid to help with daily activities.

^{^j}

Defined as any self-reported fall to the ground within the past 3 months.²⁵

^{^k}

Tobacco use defined as answering “yes” to “In the week before you came to jail, did you smoke cigarettes?”

^{^l}

Drug use defined as documentation of current drug use in the jail medical record or answering “no” to “In the last year, could you get through the week without using drugs?”³²

^{^m}

Problem alcohol use defined as documentation of current alcohol use disorder in jail medical record or a positive screen on the validated, 3-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-C.³³

^ⁿ

Homelessness defined as needing to spend 1 or more nights outside or in a homeless shelter in the 30 days before jail.²⁹

^{^o}

Medication and food insecurity defined as answering “yes” to “Was there a time in the last year when you did not have enough money for medications or food?”³¹