The committee provided the following justification for their selection of the article:
"The winning paper is well written, delivering a clear and impactful public health message. It addresses a novel research question focused on a marginalized and under researched population. The study exemplifies the importance of well executed descriptive epidemiology, shedding light on a significant issue with clear potential for prevention."
The article addresses a small, but very vulnerable group of people: women who have been incarcerated in Norway. These women often come from backgrounds marked by abuse, neglect, poverty, and social isolation. At the same time, the prevalence of substance abuse and other mental disorders is very high. In the article, Svendsen and colleagues show that mortality in this group is exceedingly high: compared to women in the general population, the women in the group had a standardized mortality rate (SMR) of 5.17 (95% CI: 5.01-5.34) for all causes, and 8.98 (95% CI: 8.65-9.32) for preventable causes.
In addition to SMR, Svendsen and colleagues examined the burden of premature death using the "years of lost life" (YLL) methodology, as well as the annual age-standardized years of life lost rate (ASYR) to investigate how the burden has developed over time.
The article was also mentioned in a debate post in Dagens Medisin (in Norwegian) and is part of Vegard Svendsen's PhD, where women in prison are the main topic.