Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Megan T. Sandel, MD, MPH¹, Emily Litonjua, MA², Margaret Reid², and Ellen Tohn³. (1) Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, 91 E. Concord St, Boston, MA 02118, 617-414-3680, megan.sandel@bmc.org, (2) Asthma Office, Boston Public Health Commission, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118, (3) ERT Associates & Senior Advisor Asthma Regional Council of New England, 5 Fields Lane, Wayland, MA 01778

The 2004 Boston Healthy Homes Demonstration program and study was designed to determine how varying levels of housing interventions affect the health of children with asthma. Families initially received either: (1) education and supplies for integrated pest management and smoking cessation; or (2) $2000 per unit for carpet removal, ventilation improvements and professional integrated pest management. Every family would ultimately receive both interventions, but some families would wait four months before undergoing construction. At baseline and follow up visits, extensive surveys of environmental conditions and the health of the asthmatic child were taken along with a detailed room by room visual inspection and air quality monitoring. 78 home inspections were done. 59 of 78 properties (75%) had pest infestation (rodent and/or cockroach). These families were offered professional integrated pest management which involved 2-5 visits. Families were then offered ventilation improvements (installation of fans in the kitchen or bathroom to be vented outside) or carpet removal. To date, 71 of the 75 families remaining in the study have completed the construction improvements and have completed or are awaiting a final home visit to evaluate the efficacy of the construction interventions on children's asthma. The Boston Health Homes Demonstration program is a project of the Boston Public Health Commission and is part of the ARC New England Healthy Homes Initiative funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Describe the linkages between housing based health hazards and asthma.
• 2. Describe housing interventions designed to improve asthma
• 3. Describe results of 60 homes receiving housing interventions to improve child asthma.

Keywords: Asthma, Healthy Buildings

Related Web page: on

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No