Table 4.

Estimated odds ratios for effect of housing on illness in Malawian children under 5 years old

	Any illness*	Respiratory infection	Gastrointestinal disorder	Malaria
Unadjusted odds ratio
Traditional house	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Habitat house	0.64 (0.40 to 1.01)	0.64 (0.49 to 1.13)	0.69 (0.33 to 1.43)	0.69 (0.36 to 1.30)
Adjusted odds ratio†
Housing type:
Traditional	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Habitat	0.55 (0.34 to 0.75)	0.60 (0.34 to 1.06)	0.60 (0.29 to 1.25)	0.63 (0.33 to 1.21)
Water source:
Unsafe	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Safe	0.40 (0.25 to 0.65)	0.48 (0.26 to 0.87)	0.31 (0.14 to 0.70)	0.47 (0.23 to 0.94)
Fully adjusted odds ratio‡
Housing type:
Traditional	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Habitat	0.56 (0.35 to 0.91)	0.56 (0.31 to 1.01)	0.58 (0.26 to 1.28)	0.73 (0.36 to 1.40)
Water source:
Unsafe	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Safe	0.46 (0.28 to 0.76)	0.56 (0.31 to 1.02)	0.29 (0.13 to 0.68)	0.59 (0.28 to 1.26)
Method of waste disposal:
Bush or community latrine	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
Private latrine	0.95 (0.58 to 1.53)	1.33 (0.73 to 2.40)	1.11 (0.93 to 2.39)	0.44 (0.21 to 0.92)
Knowledge of malaria prevention:
Average	—	—	—	1.00
Above average				0.37 (0.15 to 0.77)

^*One or more of the three key illnesses: respiratory infection, gastrointestinal disorder, or malaria. 

^†Generalised linear model adjusting for water source. 

^‡Generalised linear model adjusting for water source, occupation (farmer or wage earner), level of education (completing secondary school or not), knowledge of methods to prevent malaria (number of methods that could be named), and method of waste disposal.