A New Zealand study demonstrating the health benefits - and economic
value! - of insulating substandard houses (of which NZ has a lot, due to
'Historically undemanding housing regulatory standards'):
'a relatively modest investment in insulation per house (around £700
excluding taxes, or the cost of one inpatient hospital admission) led to
significant improvements in the population's self reported health and a
lower risk of children having time off school or adults having sick days off
work.'
'A conservative cost-benefit analysis of this intervention trial indicated
that the tangible health and energy benefits outweighed the costs by a
factor approaching 2, when calculated in present value terms at a 5% real
discount rate over 30 years'
BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.39070.573032.80 (published 26 February 2007)
RESEARCH
Effect of insulating existing houses on health inequality: cluster
randomised study in the community
Philippa Howden-Chapman 1*, Anna Matheson 2, Julian Crane 3, Helen Viggers
1, Malcolm Cunningham 4, Tony Blakely 5, Chris Cunningham 6, Alistair
Woodward 7, Kay Saville-Smith 8, Des O'Dea Objective To determine whether
insulating existing houses increases indoor temperatures and improves
occupants' health and wellbeing.
Design Community based, cluster, single blinded randomised study.
Setting Seven low income communities in New Zealand.
Participants 1350 households containing 4407 participants.
Intervention Installation of a standard retrofit insulation package.
Main outcome measures Indoor temperature and relative humidity, energy
consumption, self reported health, wheezing, days off school and work,
visits to general practitioners, and admissions to hospital.
Results Insulation was associated with a small increase in bedroom
temperatures during the winter (0.5°C) and decreased relative humidity
(-2.3%), despite energy consumption in insulated houses being 81% of that in
uninsulated houses. Bedroom temperatures were below 10°C for 1.7 fewer hours
each day in insulated homes than in uninsulated ones. These changes were
associated with reduced odds in the insulated homes of fair or poor self
rated health (adjusted odds ratio 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.38 to
0.68), self reports of wheezing in the past three months (0.57, 0.47 to
0.70), self reports of children taking a day off school (0.49, 0.31 to
0.80), and self reports of adults taking a day off work (0.62, 0.46 to
0.83). Visits to general practitioners were less often reported by occupants
of insulated homes (0.73, 0.62 to 0.87). Hospital admissions for respiratory
conditions were also reduced (0.53, 0.22 to 1.29), but this reduction was
not statistically significant (P=0.16).
Conclusion Insulating existing houses led to a significantly warmer, drier
indoor environment and resulted in improved self rated health, self reported
wheezing, days off school and work, and visits to general practitioners as
well as a trend for fewer hospital admissions for respiratory conditions.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/bmj.39070.573032.80v1?etoc
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/rapidpdf/bmj.39070.573032.80v1
Melissa Raven, Adjunct Lecturer
Department of Public Health, Flinders University
GPO Box 2100 ADELAIDE SA 5001
AUSTRALIA
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