Table 6.
Health outcomes in trial of insulating houses
| Outcome measure | Before intervention | After intervention | Odds ratio (95% CI) | |||||
| Intervention group | Control group | Intervention group | Control group | Unadjusted | Adjusted | |||
| SF-36 self report scales (adults with data for both years) | ||||||||
| Low vitality (bottom 3 of 6 categories) | 445 (967) | 450 (954) | 290 (967) | 412 (954) | 0.57 (0.47 to 0.68) P<0.0001 | 0.51 (0.41 to 0.64) P<0.0001* | ||
| Low happiness score (bottom half of scale) | 158 (960) | 147 (944) | 81 (960) | 127 (944) | 0.59 (0.44 to 0.80) P=0.0005 | 0.56 (0.41 to 0.77) P=0.0003* | ||
| Fair or poor general health | 231 (977) | 245 (964) | 145 (977) | 220 (964) | 0.59 (0.47 to 0.74) P<0.0001 | 0.50 (0.38 to 0.68) P<0.0001* | ||
| Self reported symptoms | ||||||||
| Colds or flu (participants with data for both years + babies) | — | — | 855 (1481) | 1002 (1428) | 0.58 (0.48 to 0.68) P<0.001 | 0.54 (0.43 to 0.66) P<0.0001† | ||
| Wheezing in past 3 months (participants with data for both years) | 591 (1409) | 598 (1366) | 412 (1409) | 544 (1366) | 0.63 (0.53 to 0.73) P<0.0001 | 0.57 (0.47 to 0.70) P<0.0001* | ||
| Morning phlegm (adults in matched set who answered in year 2) | — | — | 283 (965) | 376 (961) | 0.65 (0.53 to 0.78) P<0.0001 | 0.64 (0.52 to 0.78) P<0.0001† | ||
| Sleep disturbed by wheezing (children 0-12 years, both years) | 233 (512) | 214 (471) | 142 (512) | 175 (471) | 0.65 (0.50 to 0.85) P=0.0017 | 0.57 (0.40 to 0.81) P=0.0019‡ | ||
| Speech disturbed by wheezing (children 0-12 years, both years) | 73 (507) | 72 (468) | 35 (507) | 55 (468) | 0.56 (0.36 to 0.87) P=0.0099 | 0.514 (0.31 to 0.86) P=0.0120‡ | ||
| Days off work | ||||||||
| Had days off work (adults 18-64 working in year 2) | 195 (487) (101 not in work) | 223 (500) (77 not in work) | 149 (588) | 19 (/577) | 0.65 (0.50 to 0.83) P=0.0007 | 0.62 (0.46 to 0.83) P=0.0017* | ||
| Number of days working adults had off work§ | Count data | 0.63 (0.41 to 0.96) P=0.033¶, 0.62 (0.47 to 0.82) P=0.001¶ | ||||||
| Number of days working adults had off work§ | Count data | 0.62 (0.40 to 0.97) P=0.034,** 0.609 (0.45 to 0.82) P=0.001)** | ||||||
| Days off school | ||||||||
| Had days off school (6-17 year olds in school, year 1) | 175 (246) | 183 (257) | 149 (246) | 189 (257) | 0.553 (0.379 to 0.806) P=0.001 | 0.49 (0.31 to 0.80) P=0.004‡ | ||
| Number of days 6-17 year olds had off school§ | Count data | 0.47 (0.27 to 0.81) P=0.007††, 0.81 (1.01 to 1.51) P=0.044†† | ||||||
Twelve babies were born in the year between the first and second winter; 7 in the intervention group and 5 in the control group, for whom we received National Health information.
All adjusted odds ratios adjusted for age group, sex, and ethnic origin.
*Also adjusted for year 1 score or status, household, and region.
†Also adjusted for household and region.
‡Also adjusted for household.
§The first set of results used a zero inflated negative binomial model; the second set is the incident rate ratio.
¶Also adjusted for region and non-working adult in house.
**Also adjusted for region and number of working adults in house.
††Also adjusted for region and number of 6-17 year olds in house.