[Evolution and follow-up of hunger strikers: experience from an interregional hospital secured unit]

A hunger strike is a voluntary fast, performed to protest publicly against an issue deemed unfair. In the case of French prisoners, hospitalization in an interregional hospital secured units (UHSI) may be necessary.

A retrospective epidemiological study based on one UHSI medical records was performed on the period of May, 2006 to December, 2008, and focused on symptoms, outcomes and ethical problems encountered.

Seven men and one woman with a mean age of 32.6 years were hospitalized in an UHSI, with nine episodes of hunger strike of a median duration of 57 days. Clinical symptoms began after two weeks of voluntary deprivation in the form of dizziness, weakness, muscle pain and headache. Laboratory tests showed hypoglycemia (<0.4g/L) on admission, 16.3% decrease of albumin after 40.5 days, and dehydration in case of thirst strike. The clinical tolerance was good and no patient presented Wernicke's encephalopathy. A diabetic patient developed acidocetosis during two hunger strikes. All hunger strikes were respected by medical staff, and treatment was based upon surveillance of symptoms, vitamin B and sweetened drinks administration and explanations of the clinical hazards on a daily basis.

The special problem encountered in the medical management of these strikers was to convince them to accept treatments in order to avoid a coercive life-saving treatment as requested by French law.