Article Text
Abstract
Objective: To examine the effect of improving the thermal quality of housing on blood pressure (BP) and general health.
Design: A before and after study comparing the changes of the intervention with controls.
Setting: Four blocks of flats in the Easthall area of Easterhouse in Glasgow.
Participants: Residents of the four blocks who agreed to participate.
Intervention: Two blocks of flats were upgraded from being cold, damp and mouldy to being comfortably warm, dry and mould free throughout.
Main outcome measures: Changes in BP, general health and financial status.
Results: In the intervention subjects, systolic and diastolic blood pressures fell very significantly (p<0.000). There was also an improvement in general health as reported subjectively, and as indicated by a reduction in the use of medication and in hospital admissions. In addition, there was a markedly reduced expenditure on heating costs and other previous expenses. There were no changes in the control subjects in any of these measures.
Conclusion: Improving the thermal quality of housing to eliminate damp and mould and produce a comfortable temperature throughout the house has a major impact on the health of the residents. There are also financial benefits for the residents, and indirectly for the NHS.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Linked Articles
- In this issue