Housing and health: does installing heating in their homes improve the health of children with asthma?
Housing and health: does installing heating in their homes improve the health of children with asthma?
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DOI：
10.1038/sj.ph.1900687
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发表时间：
2000-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Miles, D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Somerville, M;Mackenzie, I;Miles, D
这项研究的目的是评估国民保健服务资金的使用情况，通过改善住房条件来改善健康。一项评估改善住房条件前后健康结果的试点研究对居住在康沃尔59所潮湿房屋中的72名先前被诊断患有哮喘的儿童进行了研究。干预措施是安装中央供暖系统。这提高了房屋的能源效率。儿童的健康状况是一项基于症状的哮喘和失学时间的结果测量。改进包括在28/59（47%）房屋中安装燃气中央供暖系统，在22/59（37%）安装电储暖器，在7/59（12%）安装固体燃料中央供暖系统，在2/59（4%）房屋安装燃油中央供暖系统。在国家家庭能源等级量表中，有37/59（62%）的房屋的能源效率平均提高了2.1 (95% CI 1.68-2.47, P < 0.001)，其中两个读数可用。最初，69/72（92%）的儿童卧室没有暖气，44/72（61%）的儿童卧室潮湿；改进后的比例分别为10/72（14%）和15/72（21%）。干预后所有呼吸道症状均显著减轻；在前一个月，夜间咳嗽的中位评分从3分（大多数晚上）降至1分（一个或几个晚上）（P < 0.001），降幅最大。学龄儿童在前3个月内因哮喘缺课的时间明显减少（干预前每100个学日9.3天，干预后2.1天，P < 0.01），但其他原因无显著差异（干预前每100个学日1.4天，干预后3.2天，P < 0.05）。总之，这项研究首次对住房改善后的健康结果进行了评估。缺乏比较组意味着不能消除年龄、季节和有偏见的报道的影响。需要做更多的工作来证实这些结果。
The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of NHS money to improve health by improving housing conditions. A pilot study assessing health outcomes before and after improving housing conditions was conducted, studying 72 children with previously diagnosed asthma living in 59 damp houses in Cornwall. The intervention was the installation of central heating. This improved the energy efficiency of the housing. The children's health was a symptom-based outcome measure for asthma and time lost from school.Improvements comprised installation of gas central heating in 28/59 (47%) houses, electric storage heaters in 22/59 (37%), solid fuel central heating in 7/59 (12%) and oil-fired central heating in 2/59 (4%) houses. Energy efficiency improved by a mean of 2.1 on the National Home Energy Rating scale (95% CI 1.68-2.47, P < 0.001) in the 37/59 (62%) houses for which two readings were available. Initially, 69/72 (92%) children's bedrooms were unheated and 44/72 (61%) were damp; following improvements, the proportions were 10/72 (14%) and 15/72 (21%) respectively. All respiratory symptoms were significantly reduced after intervention; the greatest reduction was seen in nocturnal cough from a median score of 3 (most nights) to I (on one or several nights) (P < 0.001) in the previous month. Schoolage children lost significantly less time from school for asthma in the previous 3 months (9.3 days per 100 school days before intervention and 2.1 days afterwards, P < 0.01) but not for other reasons (1.4 days per 100 school days before and 3.2 after, P > 0.05).In conclusion, this study provides the first evaluation of health outcomes following housing improvements. Lack of a comparison group means that effects of age, season and biased reporting cannot be eliminated. More work is needed to substantiate these results.