Purpose: Correctional populations have higher rates of substance use disorders and related healthcare visits relative to the general population. However, limited evidence on substance use-related healthcare visits exists among this population. Using population data for Ontario, Canada, this study aims to examine overall and substance use-specific healthcare visits for individuals with and without known provincial criminal justice system involvement (CJI versus non-CJI, respectively).

Design/methodology/approach: This retrospective study compared overall and substance use-related healthcare visits between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2020 among provincially-incarcerated individuals (CJI group) versus those without criminal justice involvement (non-CJI group). Both groups were identified through available health administrative data and were individually matched by age, sex and material deprivation.

Findings: The authors identified and matched 208,188 individuals (59.9% male) with and without CJI and a healthcare visit. Compared to the non-CJI group, those with CJI had approximately 20 times the rate of healthcare visits for alcohol use, drug use and illicit drug-related overdoses. Among those with CJI, females had a higher prevalence of overall healthcare visits, whereas males had a higher prevalence of substance use-specific visits.

Research limitations/implications: Findings highlight the high number of healthcare visits for substance use-related needs among individuals with CJI in Ontario. These results can inform efforts to enhance correctional release planning, improve access to community-based treatment and strengthen substance use prevention and treatment interventions for this high-risk population.

Practical implications: Results can inform efforts to enhance correctional release planning, improve access to community-based treatment, and strengthen substance use prevention and treatment interventions for this high-risk population.

Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first in Canada to draw on population-level administrative health data to identify and match a large sample of individuals with and without CJI and examine substance use-specific healthcare utilization, longitudinally.

Keywords: Addiction; Canada; Correctional populations; Criminal justice system involvement; Health-care utilization; Overdose; Public health; Substance use.

© Cayley Russell, Alexa Yakubovich, Patricia O'Campo, Kathleen Qu, Lesley Plumptre, Fiona Kouyoumdjian and Flora I. Matheson.

目的： 矫正人群的物质使用障碍及其相关的医疗访问率高于普通人群。然而，关于这一群体中与物质使用相关医疗访问的证据有限。本研究旨在利用加拿大安大略省的人口数据，比较有无省级刑事司法系统参与（CJI 和非 CJI）个体的整体及特定物质使用的医疗访问情况。

设计/方法论/方法： 这项回顾性研究将2015年4月1日至2020年3月31日期间安大略省监狱服刑人员（CJI 组）与无刑事司法系统参与的个体（非 CJI 组）的整体及物质使用相关医疗访问进行了比较。两组人群通过可用的健康行政数据进行识别，并根据年龄、性别和经济状况进行一对一匹配。

发现： 研究者确定并匹配了 208,188 名（59.9% 的男性）有无 CJI 及医疗访问的个体。与非 CJI 组相比，CJI 组在酒精使用、药物使用及非法药物过量相关的医疗访问率大约高出 20 倍。在 CJI 组中，女性的整体医疗访问率较高，而男性的物质使用特定医疗访问率更高。

研究限制/影响： 该研究发现强调了安大略省矫正人群中因物质使用相关需求的大量医疗访问情况。这些结果可以为改善矫正释放规划、提高社区治疗的可及性以及加强这一高风险人群中的物质预防和治疗干预措施提供信息。

实践意义： 研究结果可以帮助改进矫正释放计划，增加社区基础治疗的获取途径，并加强针对这一高风险群体的物质使用预防和治疗干预措施。

原创性/价值： 据作者所知，这项研究是加拿大首次利用人口级行政健康数据来识别并匹配大量有无 CJI 的个体，并纵向分析特定物质使用的医疗利用率的研究。

© Cayley Russell, Alexa Yakubovich, Patricia O'Campo, Kathleen Qu, Lesley Plumptre, Fiona Kouyoumdjian and Flora I. Matheson.