SF-36 health survey, indoor environment and housing renovation

The focus of the study was the effect of the renovation of the housing within the study area. The study population were all privately owned households within the Riverside Renewal Area in Cardiff, Wales, that had been planned for renovation within the period of the study. Subjects were all occupants of households recruited to the study, with detailed SF-36 data being collected on household members. The objective was to recruit and monitor a cohort of households every winter approximately a year before renovation was due as the control group, and then monitor them again prior to renovation as the pre-renovation group, and finally a minimum of six months following renovation as the post-renovation group. The SF-36 enables people to describe their health status from their own perspective. The SF-36 was used to compare the health status of the different residents pre-renovation and post-renovation. The SF-36 questionnaire was divided into a series of health and wellbeing categories and the answers were plotted on a 100-point scale. High scores were associated with good health, and low scores with poor health. The indoor environment analysis was centred on the change in 7 parameters. Paired data was available for 37 households for pre-renovation and post-renovation environmental monitoring. The analysis of the paired t-test data determined that there was a significant change in 5 of the 8 SF-36 parameters post renovation. Correlations were drawn between environmental data variables including temperature and humidity with measures of indoor air pollutants and dampness. Paired sample t-tests were conducted for pre-renovation and post- renovation variables, and a significant improvement in both the indoor environment and householder health was determined. The benefits derived from setting up a multi-disciplinary project team drawn upon from different backgrounds, was from the outset a significant value to the implementation and outcome of such a health gain study. Evaluation of the data that was collected has lead to the conclusion that enrolment of a larger group of paired pre- and post renovation households would have been highly beneficial. The lack of published data within this field means that the small number of houses on which data is available from the Riverside study represents one of the principal datasets of this kind currently available.