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Dampness can damage your health

Damp and mouldy housing conditions are definitely bad for your health, according to a recent report in the British Medical Journal.

This conclusion, long suspected to be the case by community health workers, was reached after a survey of 597 houses on council estates in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London.

The researchers found that adults living in damp housing reported more nausea and vomiting, blocked noses, difficulty with breathing, backache, fainting and ‘bad nerves’ than those in dry homes. Children were more likely to suffer from wheezing, sore, throats, runny noses, headaches and fevers.

The link between dampness and ill health has until now been difficult to prove, according to Stephen Platt, a member of the research team. ‘ The crucial thing about this study is that the health and housing measures were taken completely independently, ‘ he said, so the study was able to rule out possible bias by researchers or tenants which could have influenced the results.

The conclusions came as no surprise to fellow researcher Claudia Martin. But she pointed out that they have shown for the first time that symptoms were worst in the most damp and mouldy houses. ‘ Demonstrating a dose-response relationship will greatly increase the credibility of the results,’ she said.

The work on housing and health was originally initiated at the request of a group of women tenants in Edinburgh. Academics from the Edinburgh University research unit in health and behavioural change took up the idea with financial help from Glasgow and Edinburgh district councils. The research findings have been debated at the Scottish Grand Committee.

Kathy McCormack, volunteer worker for the Easthall residents association in Glasgow, said she was ‘delighted’ with the interest in the study. ‘It’s up to us to keep the pressure on’, she said, adding that improvements in public sector housing will only come through tenants forming ‘a partnership’ with their councils to look at their problems.

Meanwhile, it looks as though this may be the last study on housing to emerge from Edinburgh research unit, which is 80 per cent funded by the Scottish Office.

Following completion of the work on dampness last autumn, the government ordered a review of the unit’s work. This ‘suggested’ that the unit does no further research on housing or community health issues, and that any applications for new research grants must go to the Scottish Office for approval.