Abstract:

Housing is considered a core social determinant of health (SDH) through mechanisms such as the quality, affordability, and location of the home. However, few nationally representative studies examine these mechanisms simultaneously with child health and healthcare use. To determine the associations between home quality and child health, a series of logistic regression analyses was employed using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The 2014 SIPP sample is a multistage, stratified sample of 53,070 housing units from 820 sample areas designed to represent the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. The analytic sample included 12,964 children aged 2–14 years. Poor housing quality was defined as whether the home had holes in the floor, cracks in the ceiling, plumbing issues, and/or pest problems. Outcome measures included child health status, number of medical visits, and hospitalizations. The results indicated that poor housing quality was associated with poorer health (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.05–1.27) and a greater number of medical visits (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.20) after controlling for number of persons per household, neighborhood safety, nonmetropolitan status, parent’s ability to afford housing-related expenses, and other SDH. Future work investigating and intervening on the SDH in children could specifically include the quality and contexts in which homes are situated.

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