December 12th, 2017
Objective: We analyzed the relationship between health status and housing quality over time. Methods: We combined data from two nationally representative longitudinal surveys of the U.S. population and its housing, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and theAmerican Housing Survey, respectively. We identified housing and health trends from approxi¬mately 1970 to 2000, after excluding those trends for which data were missing or where we found no plausible association or change in trend. Results: Changes in housing include construction type, proportion of rental versus home owner¬ship, age, density, size, moisture, pests, broken windows, ventilation and air conditioning, and water leaks. Changes in health measures include asthma, respiratory illness, obesity and diabetes, and lead poisoning, among others. The results suggest ecologic trends in childhood lead poison¬ing follow housing age, water leaks, and ventilation; asthma follows ventilation, windows, and age; overweight trends follow ventilation; blood pressure trends follow community measures; and health disparities have not changed greatly. Conclusions: Housing trends are consistent with certain health trends over time. Future national longitudinal surveys should include health, housing, and community metrics within a single inte¬grated design, instead of separate surveys, in order to develop reliable indicators of how housing changes affect population health and how to best target resources. Little progress has been made in reducing the health and housing disparities of disadvantaged groups, with the notable exception of childhood lead poisoning caused by exposure to lead-based paint hazards. Use of these and other data sets to create reliable integrated indicators of health and housing quality are needed. Key words:American Housing Survey (AHS), asthma, health disparities, healthy housing, hous¬ing, lead poisoning, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Environ Health Perspect 117:597–604 (2009). doi:10.1289/ehp.0800086 available via