Housing characteristics and young children's respiratory health in tropical Singapore

Abstract

There have been a large number of studies that documented associations with indoor housing characteristics with prevalence of respiratory symptoms in children. However, there have been very few studies from tropical Singapore where the majority live in concrete multi-house buildings and large proportions of the bedrooms are air-conditioned without provisions for fresh air. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association of housing characteristics and children's respiratory health and allergies in Singapore. Respiratory health and allergies, and housing variables were determined for children ages 1-6 living in Singapore. Multiple regression analysis examined the relationships between the housing characteristics and health outcomes. It was found that dampness, mold, ETS, traffic density, installations of wall-papers, air-conditioning were significantly associated with some health outcomes.