Relationship of Prison Life Style to Blood Pressure, Serum Lipids and Obesity in Women Prisoners in Japan.

Abstract

This prospective study of female prison inmates assessed the effects of prison labour life style on the blood pressure (BP), serum lipids, and body mass index of pre-and postmenopausal female prisoners. This study was carried out in the largest women's prison, located in a town in the North East of Japan. The prison serves a reasonably large community. Three hundred and twelve premenopausal female prisoners and 88 postmenopausal female prisoners in a women's prison participated in this study. Weight and height were measured to calculate the body mass index, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured with a sphygmomanometer.Serum samples were collected for serum lipid estimations. Base-line data of two groups were compared by unpaired t-test, and changes in these data from the initial values were tested by paired t-test. From our limited data, both the pre-and postmenopausal female prisoners showed decreases in systolic and diastolic pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, and body mass index. Both also showed increases in HDL-cholesterol. Given that almost all the women in this prison had the same labour life style, the findings of this study suggest that BP, the serum lipids concentration and obesity can be changed effectively by prison labour life, but are less readily changed in postmenopausal than in premenopausal women.

Weight gain during incarceration: systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…A total of nine studies were included in the meta‐analysis. The meta‐analysis was conducted with and without the study by Nara and Igarashi because this latter study was conducted in a prison with caloric restriction and obligatory work and physical activity and thus is unlikely to be representative of prisons in many other settings. We reported only mean results excluding the study by Nara and Igarashi.…”

“…Three studies were found through a search of grey literature. Therefore, a total of 16 studies were included in this review (24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39). Figure 1 shows the steps followed in the literature search.…”

“…Female prisoners in the UK and the USA also reported that the prison environment was not conducive for physical activity and that the limited opportunities for physical activity coincided with work hours . The only study included in this review where weight loss during incarceration was documented was conducted in a prison with caloric restrictions and where prisoners were involved in daily work at a prison factory and had to engage in half hour of moderate exercise by walking around prison grounds. Although imposing such restrictions and obligations might raise ethical concerns, this study indicates the potential role that lifestyle behavioural interventions combining dietary and physical activity components in a prison setting might play in enhancing a favourable weight development.…”

“…Eleven studies included an assessment of weight change during incarceration, and 10 included an adult population. Seven of these studies included adult female participants only (25)(26)(27)(30)(31)(32)34), one included adult male participants only (24), two included adult participants from both genders (28,29), and one included youth offenders (all men) (33). Anthropometric measurements were objective in all studies, either collected by researchers or taken from prison records.…”

Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Prisoners

“…A Japanese study, (Nara & Igarashi, 1998) focused on female prisoners also demonstrated improvement in outcomes for blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and body mass index (BMI) associated with light activity for a period of 30 minutes. These findings were even more significant among pre-menopausal women.…”