Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug;108(8):1059-1065.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304468. Epub 2018 Jun 21.

Subsidized Housing and Adult Asthma in Boston, 2010-2015

Amar J Mehta  1 , Daniel P Dooley  1 , John Kane  1 , Margaret Reid  1 , Snehal N Shah  1
Affiliations

Subsidized Housing and Adult Asthma in Boston, 2010-2015

Amar J Mehta et al. Am J Public Health. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine whether subsidized housing, specifically public housing and rental assistance, is associated with asthma in the Boston, Massachusetts, adult population.

Methods: We analyzed a pooled cross-sectional sample of 9554 adults taking part in 3 Boston Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys from 2010 to 2015. We estimated odds ratios for current asthma in association with housing status (public housing development [PHD] resident, rental assistance [RA] renter, non-RA renter, nonrenter nonowner, homeowner as reference) in logistic regression analyses adjusting for year, age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and income.

Results: The odds of current asthma were 2.02 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.35, 3.03) and 2.34 (95% CI = 1.60, 3.44) times higher among PHD residents and RA renters, respectively, than among homeowners. We observed smoking-related effect modification (interaction P = .04); elevated associations for PHD residents and RA renters remained statistically significant (P < .05) only among ever smokers. Associations for PHD residents and RA renters remained consistent in magnitude in comparison with non-RA renters who were eligible for subsidized housing according to income.

Conclusions: Public housing and rental assistance were strongly associated with asthma in this large cross-sectional sample of adult Boston residents.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Study Participation and Inclusion Flowchart: Boston, MA; Boston Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS); 2010–2015 Note. BHA = Boston Housing Authority; SHS = secondhand tobacco smoke.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Nurmagambetov T, Kuwahara R, Garbe P. The economic burden of asthma in the United States, 2008–2013. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2018;15(3):348–356. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Population Health. BRFSS prevalence and trends data. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/brfssprevalence. Accessed May 17, 2018.
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Environmental Health, Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch. 2015 asthma data: BRFSS prevalence tables and maps. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/brfss/2015/default.html. Accessed May 17, 2018.
    1. Boston Public Health Commission. Health of Boston 2016–2017. Available at: http://www.bphc.org/boardofhealth/board-meeting-materials/Documents/Heal.... Accessed May 17, 2018.
    1. Krieger J, Higgins DL. Housing and health: time again for public health action. Am J Public Health. 2002;92(5):758–768. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types