Hwang Stephen W, Martin Rochelle E, Tolomiczenko George S, Hulchanski J David
Inner City Health Research Unit, St. Michael's Hospital, 30 Bond St., Toronto, ON M5B 1W8.
Can J Public Health. 2003 Nov-Dec;94(6):436-40. doi: 10.1007/BF03405081.
Rooming houses are an important source of housing for low-income Canadians. Little information is available on the relationship between housing conditions and health status in this vulnerable population.
Interviews were conducted with a representative sample of 295 residents in 171 rooming houses in Toronto. Health status was assessed using the SF-36. The physical attractiveness of each rooming house was rated using the Multiphasic Environmental Assessment Procedure. Associations between the health status of residents and the physical attractiveness and organizational characteristics of rooming houses were examined.
Rooming house residents aged 35 years and older had significantly poorer health status than their counterparts in the Canadian general population. Eight of the ten dimensions of individual health status assessed by the SF-36 were significantly correlated with the physical attractiveness of the rooming house in which the individual lived. However, there was no significant association between residents' health status and the rooming house's non-profit status, provision of meals, or the presence of an on-site landlord.
Rooming house residents suffer from a high prevalence of ill health. Residents reporting worst health are concentrated in rooming houses in the poorest physical condition. This relationship may be mediated by selection processes that place the sickest individuals in the lowest-quality rooming houses, and/or by a direct effect of adverse housing conditions on health status. Further research is needed to elucidate these processes and to improve the health of this vulnerable population.
出租屋是加拿大低收入人群重要的住房来源。关于这一弱势群体的住房条件与健康状况之间的关系，目前所知甚少。
对多伦多171间出租屋中的295名居民进行了具有代表性的访谈。使用SF-36评估健康状况。使用多相环境评估程序对每间出租屋的外观吸引力进行评分。研究居民的健康状况与出租屋的外观吸引力及组织特征之间的关联。
35岁及以上的出租屋居民健康状况明显比加拿大普通人群中的同龄人差。SF-36评估的个人健康状况的十个维度中有八个与居民所居住出租屋的外观吸引力显著相关。然而，居民的健康状况与出租屋的非营利性质、是否提供膳食或是否有现场房东之间没有显著关联。
出租屋居民健康不佳的患病率很高。健康状况最差的居民集中在物理条件最差的出租屋中。这种关系可能是由将病情最严重的个体安置在质量最低的出租屋中的选择过程所介导的，和/或由恶劣住房条件对健康状况的直接影响所导致。需要进一步研究以阐明这些过程并改善这一弱势群体的健康状况。
