142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

310675
Analysis of Data from the Healthy Homes Supplement to the 2011 American Housing Survey

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Peter J. Ashley, DrPH , Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC
David Cox, PhD , QuanTech, Rockville, MD
Eugene Pinzer, M.S., CIH , Office of Healthy Homes, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC
Housing is an important social determinant of health and the HUD-sponsored American Housing Survey (AHS)  is a valuable tool for tracking the distribution of housing conditions that can impact health. The survey is conducted in odd years by the U.S. Census Bureau and collects data on selected housing and demographic characteristics using a telephone-administered questionnaire.  The survey collects data on physical conditions that can be indicative of inadequate housing (e.g., housing with physical problems such as deficiencies in plumbing, heating, electrical supply) as well as selected conditions that represent environmental health hazards (e.g., recent observations of rodents, peeling paint). Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed data from the 2007 and 2009 AHS for patterns in the occurrence of inadequate or unhealthy housing. In general, a disparate pattern was found, with most indicators of inadequate or unhealthy housing found at higher frequency among households of lower socioeconomic status. The CDC reported a disparate pattern among survey participants who own or rent the housing units included in the survey. In the 2011 AHS survey, a Healthy Homes (HH) supplement was added to collect data on additional characteristics related to resident health and safety including exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, the presence of hazards to children, fall hazards, fire safety, swimming pool safety, mold, and pest infestation. Questions were also included regarding the presence of a child or adolescent with clinician-diagnosed asthma in the household and the use of emergency medical care by the child.  This presentation will present the results from analysis of the 2011 HH supplement data, with a focus on the distribution of hazards by demographic variables.  Conditions that were associated with the presence of a child with asthma will also be identified and current plan to re-administer the HH supplement will be discussed.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Environmental health sciences
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Explain the value of the American Housing Survey to track health-related conditions in U.S. housing. Describe the distribution of residential hazards in U.S. housing from the 2011 AHS Healthy Homes supplement. Identify the potential contribution of inadequate housing to racial and ethnic health disparities.

Keyword(s): Healthy Housing, Health Disparities/Inequities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have a DrPH in environmental health and I direct the Policy and Standards Division in HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard control. I have worked on housing-related research and policy issues at HUD for over 17 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.