Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2007
Effect of insulating existing houses on health inequality: cluster randomised study in the community.
Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 102 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
102 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Systematic Review of Associations between Energy Use, Fuel Poverty, Energy Efficiency Improvements and Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship between buildings and health: a systematic review.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2019Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Health Economic Analyses of Housing Improvement Interventions and Insecticide-Treated Bednets in the Home.PloS one · 2016Pooled it
- Remediating buildings damaged by dampness and mould for preventing or reducing respiratory tract symptoms, infections and asthma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Economic analysis of the health impacts of housing improvement studies: a systematic review.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2013Pooled it
- Housing improvements for health and associated socio-economic outcomes.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- The health impacts of housing improvement: a systematic review of intervention studies from 1887 to 2007.American journal of public health · 2009Pooled it
- Health and well-being outcomes from a non-health population-level intervention: the impact of home upgrades in Victoria, Australia.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2025Trial
- Outcomes from the Victorian Healthy Homes Program: a randomised control trial of home energy upgrades.BMJ open · 2025Trial
- Impact of a Heating Voucher on Health Outcomes in COPD Patients: A Randomised Controlled Trial.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2025Trial
- Warm homes for older people: aims and methods of a randomised community-based trial for people with COPD.BMC public health · 2013Trial
- Enhancing ventilation in homes of children with asthma: pragmatic randomised controlled trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011Trial
- The Japanese Society of Hypertension Practical Consensus Guidelines for Seasonal Blood Pressure Management.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2026Article
- The global, regional, and national burden of disease attributable to non-optimal temperatures in children.Translational pediatrics · 2026Article
- A New Zealand Heat Pump Retrofit Programme: Warmer, Drier, Happier, Cheaper.Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand · 2026Article
- Extreme Cold Events and Adolescent Mental Health: Evidence from a National School-Based Survey in China.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- The Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Chronic Diseases: A Narrative Review.Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives · 2026Review
- Housing Quality Improvement and Health Care Utilization: A Regression Discontinuity Study.Journal of policy analysis and management : [the journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management] · 2026Article
- Current status and time trends in the burden of environmental heat and cold exposure among the population aged 60 years and older: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.BMC public health · 2025Article
- When homeowners lose momentum after an energy audit: barriers to completing weatherization in the United States Midwest.Energy research & social science · 2025Article
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine whether insulating existing houses increases indoor temperatures and improves occupants' health and wellbeing.
designCommunity based, cluster, single blinded randomised study.
settingSeven low income communities in New Zealand.
participants1350 households containing 4407 participants.
interventionInstallation of a standard retrofit insulation package.
main outcome measuresIndoor temperature and relative humidity, energy consumption, self reported health, wheezing, days off school and work, visits to general practitioners, and admissions to hospital.
resultsInsulation was associated with a small increase in bedroom temperatures during the winter (0.5 degrees C) and decreased relative humidity (-2.3%), despite energy consumption in insulated houses being 81% of that in uninsulated houses. Bedroom temperatures were below 10 degrees C for 1.7 fewer hours each day in insulated homes than in uninsulated ones. These changes were associated with reduced odds in the insulated homes of fair or poor self rated health (adjusted odds ratio 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.38 to 0.68), self reports of wheezing in the past three months (0.57, 0.47 to 0.70), self reports of children taking a day off school (0.49, 0.31 to 0.80), and self reports of adults taking a day off work (0.62, 0.46 to 0.83). Visits to general practitioners were less often reported by occupants of insulated homes (0.73, 0.62 to 0.87). Hospital admissions for respiratory conditions were also reduced (0.53, 0.22 to 1.29), but this reduction was not statistically significant (P=0.16).
conclusionInsulating existing houses led to a significantly warmer, drier indoor environment and resulted in improved self rated health, self reported wheezing, days off school and work, and visits to general practitioners as well as a trend for fewer hospital admissions for respiratory conditions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.