[Housing and health].

Most of our lifetime we stay indoors. Both the home environment and housing behaviour may promote health complaints and disease. The term "sick building syndrome (SBS)" is used to describe a complex of unspecific symptoms attributed to staying in an indoor environment. In contrast, "building-related illness" (BRI) designates specific diseases attributed to special factors of indoor environment. A number of factors is known to influence health in the indoor environment, such as indoor emissions, ambient air, indoor climate (temperature, air flow, humidity) optical influences, water supply and sewage disposal, sound waves (noise, vibrations), non-ionising radiation, construction and characteristic design features of a home (e.g. floor area, functionality) and also psychological factors. Epidemiological studies have revealed that dark and noisy homes, rooms with insufficiently insulated external walls, single glazing, heating by gas heaters fitted to external walls and too low humidity of indoor air will increase morbidity. A checklist based on medical considerations is presented permitting assessment of the health relevance of important areas/factors of the home environment by means of a scoring system.