TY - JOUR T1 - Emergency hospital admissions associated with a non-randomised housing intervention meeting national housing quality standards: a longitudinal data linkage study JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health JO - J Epidemiol Community Health SP - 896 LP - 903 DO - 10.1136/jech-2017-210370 VL - 72 IS - 10 AU - Sarah E Rodgers AU - Rowena Bailey AU - Rhodri Johnson AU - Damon Berridge AU - Wouter Poortinga AU - Simon Lannon AU - Robert Smith AU - Ronan A Lyons Y1 - 2018/10/01 UR - http://jech.bmj.com/content/72/10/896.abstract N2 - Background We investigated tenant healthcare utilisation associated with upgrading 8558 council houses to a national quality standard. Homes received multiple internal and external improvements and were analysed using repeated measures of healthcare utilisation.Methods The primary outcome was emergency hospital admissions for cardiorespiratory conditions and injuries for residents aged 60 years and over. Secondary outcomes included each of the separate conditions, for tenants aged 60 and over, and for all ages. Council home address and intervention records for eight housing cointerventions were anonymously linked to demographic data, hospital admissions and deaths for individuals in a dynamic cohort. Counts of health events were analysed using multilevel regression models to investigate associations between receipt of each housing improvement, adjusting for potential confounding factors and regional trends.Results Residents aged 60 years and over living in homes when improvements were made were associated with up to 39% fewer admissions compared with those living in homes that were not upgraded (incidence rate ratio=0.61, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.72). Reduced admissions were associated with electrical systems, windows and doors, wall insulation, and garden paths. There were small non-significant reductions for the primary outcome associated with upgrading heating, adequate loft insulation, new kitchens and new bathrooms.Conclusion Results suggest that hospital admissions can be avoided through improving whole home quality standards. This is the first large-scale longitudinal evaluation of a whole home intervention that has evaluated multiple improvement elements using individual-level objective routine health data. ER -